The Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) or PICPA is a non-stock, non-profit organization duly recognized and accredited by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as the Accredited Integrated Professional Organization (AIPO) for Accountancy in the Philippines.
In 1929, PICPA’s founders have set forth the institute’s noble objectives: (1) To promote and maintain high professional and ethical standards among accountants; (2) To advance the science of accounting; (3) To develop and improve accountancy education; (4) To encourage cordial relations among accountants; and (5) To protect the Certificate of Certified Public Accountants granted by the Republic of the Philippines.
In 1973, PICPA received from then PRC Chair Eric Nubla, Certificate of Accreditation No. 6, a distinction that recognized the Institute as the first bona fide and accredited professional organization (APO) of CPAs. In 1988, with PICPA’s compliance to PRC Resolution No. 106 and to its amending Resolution No. 142 both of which carried out the Integration of the Accountancy Profession, PICPA was subsequently pronounced integrated, thus elevated to its AIPO status.
In September 1996, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the amendments of PICPA’s Articles of Incorporation extending its corporate life for another fifty (50) years. Moreover, in accordance with the Republic Act No. 9298 otherwise known as the Accountancy Act of 2004, PICPA amended its By-Laws and changed its organizational structure to formally recognize and give focus to the four sectors of the accountancy profession: Commerce and Industry, Public Practice, Government and Education; as well as to the four geographical groupings: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Awarded five times as PRC’s Most Outstanding APO in 1995, 2005, 2012, 2013 and in 2018, PICPA certainly stands tall in the professional arena, both in the local and in the international front.