Use CPAs when you mean more than one certified public accountant. Use CPA’s when one CPA owns or is associated with something, and CPAs’ when multiple CPAs do. For example: “Several CPAs attended,” “the CPA’s report,” and “the CPAs’ reports.”
When should you write CPAs?
Write CPAs for the plural. The abbreviation takes an s without an apostrophe, just as in “The firm hired two CPAs.” Purdue OWL’s APA guidance gives the same general pattern for capitalized abbreviations, using “IQs” as an example: Purdue OWL’s apostrophe guidance and APA abbreviations guidance.
When does CPA’s need an apostrophe?
One CPA owns or is associated with something
Use CPA’s for singular possession: “The CPA’s advice helped.” The apostrophe comes before the s because the owner is one CPA. Intuit Content Design uses the same distinction in its example, “The CPA’s opinion is that many CPAs love TurboTax”: Intuit Content Design’s punctuation guidance.
More than one CPA owns or is associated with something
Use CPAs’ for plural possession: “The CPAs’ advice helped.” Because the plural already ends in s, put the apostrophe after that s. Purdue OWL explains this placement for plural nouns ending in s in its apostrophe guidance.
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- More than one accountant: CPAs — “All CPAs are welcome to attend.”
- Something belonging to one accountant: CPA’s — “The CPA’s report is ready.”
- Something belonging to multiple accountants: CPAs’ — “The CPAs’ reports are ready.”
The apostrophe marks possession; it is not needed just to make CPA plural. Purdue OWL notes that punctuation details can vary in some cases, including plurals of lowercase letters, and advises writers to follow the style guide required for their format. That exception does not change the standard plural CPAs under the cited APA guidance.
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