What Is The Difference Between a Certificate and Professional Certification?

A Backgrounder Article | Drawer F: Professional Credentials ... What They Mean

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By L.Kenway BComm CPB Retired
This is the year you get all your ducks in a row! Start by starting ... and keep it simple. Consistency beats perfection.

Published September 5, 2026

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The Difference Between a Certificate and Certification

Professional certification is different than a certificate program. Courses in a certificate program (or a university degree) help prepare you to earn a professional designation in your specified field but earning a degree or certificate is not the same as becoming certified.

Certificate vs CertificationUniversity of Virginia What's the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?

The table above, from the University of Virginia, compares a certificate vs a certification. You are probably wondering why I've presented it.

As a small business owner, you will at some point want to hire a bookkeeper. This table shows why a person who has a community college diploma through a certificate program, or majored in accounting at university, has an educational credential. But that credential is not the same thing a professional certification. Here's why ...

  • A certificate or a degree tells you someone completed a course of study. There was a start and a stop to the learning.
  • A certification, like the ones doctors, engineers, and CPAs, as well as CPBs, hold tells you someone was tested against an external professional standard and has to keep meeting the standard. It's not static.
  • They're not the same thing, and the difference matters more than people think when you're trusting someone with your books.

Why should I care when I'm hiring someone to handle my books?

A certificate tells you something about the person's education. A professional certification gives you another piece of information about their professional competence and accountability.

In other words, education tells you what someone studied. Professional certification tells you that an independent professional body has assessed them against a defined standard and, generally, that they have continuing obligations.


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