According to CPA liability rules, who can a CPA be held liable to?

A CPA can be held liable to clients, third-party beneficiaries, and foreseeable classes of third parties because of the nature of the professional services they provide. CPAs have a duty of care that extends not only to their clients who directly engage their services but also to certain third parties who may rely on their work, such as banks or investors relying on financial statements audited by the CPA.

In practice, if a CPA performs an audit or issues a report, third parties who are intended to benefit from that information can be held in consideration for liability if they rely on the CPA's work in an unreasonable manner and suffer damages as a result. Additionally, foreseeable classes of third parties are those groups of people that the CPA could reasonably anticipate would use their work product, thus broadening the liability beyond the immediate client.

This concept reinforces the CPA's responsibility to maintain high ethical standards and the integrity of their work, knowing that their reports can impact multiple stakeholders beyond just their direct clients.