The Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (hereinafter referred to as CICPA) is an organization under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance. It undertakes the statutory functions of organizing CPA examinations and developing practice standards by virtue of the powers vested in The Law of the People’s Republic of China for Certified Public Accountants and the professional management and service functions stipulated by The Charter of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants. It was founded in November 1988.

The main responsibilities of the CICPA include: (1) To examine and approve applications for CICPA membership, and provide guidance to the local institutes of CPAs on membership registration; (2) To develop professional standards and rules for CPAs, monitor and review their implementation; (3) To conduct annual quality assurance program for individual CPAs and accounting firms; (4) To formulate professional regulatory rules and take disciplinary actions against those with non-compliant activities; (5) To organize National Unified CPA Examinations; (6) To organize and deliver training programs for members; (7) To organize professional exchanges, conduct theoretical research and provide technical support; (8) To give publicity to the accountancy profession; (9) To promote relationships within and beyond the accountancy profession, support CPAs to adhere to the laws in conducting their practices and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of members; (10) To represent the Chinese accountancy profession in carrying out international co-operations and exchanges; (11) To give guidance to the work of local institutes of CPAs; (12) To conduct other relevant work stipulated by laws and regulations, and entrusted or authorized by government agencies.

As of December 31, 2017, CICPA has 8,605 group members (accounting firms). Among them, 40 are qualified to conduct securities and futures-related business and 11 firms are authorized to conduct H-share audit. CICPA has over 237,000 individual members, including 105,570 practicing members and 131,633 non-practicing members. The workforce in this profession exceeds 300,000 people. They serve over 4.2 million enterprises and institutions, including over 3,000 listed companies.

CICPA has joined CAPA in October 1996 and IFAC in May 1997. CICPA has established friendly relations with over 50 overseas accounting organizations.