Choosing an accountant
What qualifications should an accountant have?
By Pick My Accountant Editorial · Updated 8 July 2026
The main UK bodies at a glance
ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and ICAS (Scotland) award the ACA/CA chartered qualification — the traditional gold standard for accounts and audit. ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is equally rigorous with a global footprint. CIMA focuses on management accounting inside businesses. AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) is a practical, exam-based qualification — many excellent small-business practices are AAT-licensed. CIOT/ATT are the specialist tax bodies, often held alongside an accounting qualification.
How to verify a claim in two minutes
Every body publishes a searchable register: ICAEW's 'Find a chartered accountant', ACCA's member directory, AAT's licensed member search, ICAS and CIMA equivalents. Search the firm or the named individual — if they claim letters they don't hold, walk away. On Pick My Accountant, qualification badges reflect what we could verify at listing time, but always confirm directly for high-stakes engagements.
Which qualification do you actually need?
For routine sole trader or micro-company compliance, an AAT-licensed accountant is usually more than sufficient and often cheaper. For growing companies, complex tax planning, or anything approaching audit thresholds, a chartered (ICAEW/ICAS) or chartered certified (ACCA) firm brings deeper technical backing. What matters most in practice: a practising certificate, professional indemnity insurance, and experience with businesses like yours.
People also ask
Is an unqualified accountant illegal?
No — except for reserved work like statutory audit, anyone can prepare accounts and tax returns. But unqualified practitioners have no ethics oversight, no required insurance, and no complaints process, so you carry all the risk.
What is a practising certificate?
Bodies like ICAEW and ACCA require members offering services to the public to hold a practising certificate, which brings supervision, continuing education, and mandatory professional indemnity insurance.
Do online accountants hold the same qualifications?
The good ones do — the qualification bodies don't distinguish between online and high-street delivery. Apply exactly the same register checks to an online firm.
This article is general information for UK businesses, not tax, legal, or financial advice, and thresholds change — confirm current rules on GOV.UK or with a qualified accountant before acting. Fee figures are indicative benchmarks from ourmethodology.