Compare the four bookkeeping credentials
Quick answer
What is the difference between AIPB, NACPB, Intuit Academy, and QuickBooks ProAdvisor?
AIPB's Certified Bookkeeper (CB) and NACPB's Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) are professional bookkeeping-competency credentials from credentialing bodies. Intuit Academy Bookkeeping is a Coursera-hosted course completion badge, not a body designation. QuickBooks Online (QBO) ProAdvisor certifies software fluency, not general bookkeeping competency. They are not substitutes for each other, and the table below sets all four side by side on cost, eligibility, exam format, and recertification, with a source and a date on every cell.
| Credential | Body & type | Eligibility | Cost | Exam format | Recertification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certified Bookkeeper (CB) Checked 2026-07-30 | AIPB (American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers) Professional designation | Pass the four-part national CB exam, sign the AIPB Code of Ethics, and submit evidence of at least 2 years' full-time bookkeeping experience OR 3,000 hours' part-time or freelance experience, before or after passing the exam. Undergraduates may count internships and tax- or accounting-related volunteerism (e.g. VITA) toward the hours, but not plain office work. Applicants have 3 years from the date they pass the exam to submit the experience evidence. |
| Four parts, all multiple-choice. Part 1 (Prometric, proctored, 2 hours, $100): Accruals/Deferrals/Adjusted Trial Balance plus Correction of Accounting Errors and Bank Reconciliation. Part 2 (Prometric, proctored, 2 hours, $100): Payroll plus Depreciation. Part 3 (back-of-workbook, open-book, no time limit, no fee): Inventory. Part 4 (back-of-workbook, open-book, no time limit, no fee): Internal Controls and Fraud Prevention. Retaking one Prometric part costs $60 after a 30-day wait; back-of-workbook retests are free. | Every 3 years: 60 Continuing Professional Education Credits (CPECs), starting from the certification date |
| Certified Public Bookkeeper (CPB) Checked 2026-07-30 | NACPB (National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers) License | The CPB license is earned by completing NACPB's Certified Public Bookkeeper Program in full: courses (Accounting Fundamentals, QuickBooks Online Fundamentals, Payroll Fundamentals or approved equivalents), certifications (Bookkeeping Certification, Intuit QuickBooks Certification, Payroll Certification), training (Bookkeeping with QuickBooks Online), roughly 3 months of supervised bookkeeping experience under a Consortia manager, and agreement to the CPB Professional Code of Conduct. No independent minimum years of prior real-world bookkeeping experience is required outside this packaged program; whether a background check applies is not stated on NACPB's public pages [verify]. |
| The Bookkeeping Certification exam (the credentialing exam inside the CPB path) covers 13 topic areas (accounting fundamentals, journal entries, financial statements, payroll computations, and more) and requires prior completion of the Accounting Fundamentals course or an approved equivalent; candidates must score a minimum of 75% on both the course and the exam. Exact question count and timing are not disclosed on NACPB's public pages [verify]. Retaking the certification exam costs $40 (member) / $50 (nonmember). | Annual license renewal; 24 CPE hours required each year, beginning the year after the license is obtained |
| Intuit Academy Bookkeeping Professional Certificate Checked 2026-07-30 | Intuit, Coursera-hosted Course badge | No degree or prior bookkeeping/accounting experience required, per Intuit's own program description on Coursera. The culminating Intuit Academy Bookkeeping exam is limited to U.S. residents. |
| A 4-course Coursera series (Bookkeeping basics, Tracking assets and sales, Tracking expenses/liabilities/equity, Reconciling accounts and examining financial statements), roughly 54 hours total (13+12+13+16 hours), self-paced. Completion leads to eligibility for the separate Intuit Academy Bookkeeping exam (U.S. residents only, no proctored test-center component); that standalone exam's own fee, question count, and passing score could not be confirmed from Intuit's own domain this session [verify]. | Not published |
| QuickBooks Online (QBO) ProAdvisor certification Checked 2026-07-30 | Intuit, via a QuickBooks Online Accountant login (Intuit is migrating this to "Intuit Accountant Suite") Software certification | Requires signing up for the ProAdvisor Program or logging into an existing QuickBooks Online Accountant (being renamed Intuit Accountant Suite) account; no bookkeeping-competency prerequisite is stated on Intuit's public pages. |
| Not published | Not published |
Individual credential pages carry the full sourced writeup as each clears
verification (QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor stays unpublished until then). Not
sure which one fits your situation? Use the
credential-fit recommender, or see the
freelance and employed rate view for the ROI side of the
decision. Full column set and provenance: src/data/PROVENANCE.md.