Accounting firms in Aurora work under a constraint that does not apply to most trades this publication covers: the title on the door is regulated by the state, and it is checkable in about a minute. The Colorado State Board of Accountancy, housed inside the Department of Regulatory Agencies, issues every CPA licence in the state and publishes the entire register — name, licence number, first-issue date, current status — as open data. A licensee either appears in it or does not. That single fact reorganises how this category should be ranked: not on marketing polish, but on whether the credential the sign claims is genuinely on file.
Aurora is also a harder place to keep books than the shorthand "Denver metro" suggests. The city spans Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, and its own tax division publishes a city sales tax rate of 3.75 percent that combines to 8.00, 8.50, or 8.75 percent depending on which county a given address falls in. A retailer two blocks from a county line and its neighbour across it file at different combined rates, to a city that administers this tax itself rather than routing it through the state. That is a routine competence question to put to any firm handling an Aurora business return, and a fair proxy for whether a firm actually works here or merely lists the city on a service-area page.
Every firm below was screened identically. It had to publish a street address inside Aurora on its own website — not a metro service radius, not a mailbox — together with a phone number readable from that same site. Its principal's Colorado CPA licence had to appear in the state register with an Active status, and we recorded the licence number and first-issue date so any reader can re-check the entry independently. Twelve firms entered that screen and five cleared it. They are ordered by the weight of independently verifiable credentials, not by any judgement about the quality of the advice, which no outside party is in a position to assess.
How We Evaluated Aurora Accounting Firms
The Top 5 Accounting Firms in Aurora
2026 Rankings · Aurora, Colorado
T Rodriguez & Assoc. LLC
The deepest licensure record in this category by a wide margin. Colorado's CPA register lists Thomas E. Rodriguez under licence number 2319, first issued on 17 February 1971 and carrying an Active status with a current expiry of 30 November 2027. Fifty-five years on a single continuously maintained licence is not a claim the firm makes about itself in marketing copy — it is what the state file says, and it is the closest thing to an objective tenure measure this category offers.
The practice itself was founded in 1985 and describes itself on its own site as a family-owned firm that has served the community for the last 40 years, with experienced CPAs and support staff handling both personal and business work. The published service list runs across individual and business tax preparation, tax planning, IRS representation, small-business accounting and bookkeeping, payroll, cash flow management, and QuickBooks setup and training. The Better Business Bureau rates the firm A+ on a file opened in January 2012, though it is not a BBB Accredited Business — a distinction worth understanding, since accreditation is a paid programme and its absence says nothing about conduct.
James Moore & Associates, PC
The most specific published niche of any firm here, and the only one on this list to display a Colorado firm licence number rather than an individual one. Its site identifies the practice as a CPA firm in Aurora, Colorado under Firm License #12238, states more than 35 years of experience, and describes accounting work for more than 200 homeowner associations across Colorado every year — audits, reviews, compilations, state and federal income tax returns, monthly bookkeeping, and independent ballot counting for association elections.
That matters in southeast Aurora specifically, where a large share of the housing stock sits inside associations that owe an annual return and, above certain thresholds or by their own governing documents, an audit or review performed by someone independent of the management company. A firm doing that work at volume is running a different practice from a general tax office. Two qualifications belong on the record: the Better Business Bureau lists the firm as Not Rated, stating it has insufficient information to issue a rating, and the state's individual CPA register contains two Active licences under the name James Moore at Aurora 80014 addresses (#4357, first issued 1977, and #10453, first issued 1987), so we cannot say from the register alone which one is the named principal.
Tamey Meziere Clements, CPA
Colorado's register lists Tamey S. Clements under CPA licence 16061, first issued on 28 June 1995 and Active with an expiry of 30 November 2027, at an Aurora 80014 address matching the office the firm publishes on Bethany Drive. The firm's own site states the principal is licensed in Colorado; the register confirms it, which is the order those two things should occur in.
The practice has traded since January 2003 according to the Better Business Bureau, which rates it A+ on a file opened in 2012 without the firm being a BBB Accredited Business. The published scope is a small-practice mix rather than a specialism: individual tax work with one-to-one guidance, business accounting and tax, QuickBooks setup and training, tax problem resolution and IRS representation, and financial consulting for owners, executives, and independent professionals. Readers who want a named individual accountable for the return — rather than a rotating preparer — are the natural fit here.
Ryan Barrett CPA
The largest independent review corpus in this category, which in a field where most practices carry almost no public feedback is a genuine differentiator. The Birdeye aggregation for this practice shows 4.5 stars across 50 reviews, 49 of which are drawn from Google — enough volume for the average to mean something rather than reflect two or three clients.
The licence checks out as well: Colorado's register lists Ryan Quinn Barrett under CPA number 26649, first issued on 4 July 2008 and Active to 30 November 2027. The office address published on the firm's own site is on South Main Street in Aurora's Southlands area, at the southeastern edge of the city in the Douglas County portion. The site states over 12 years of experience and displays AICPA, QuickBooks Certified, and Better Business Bureau seals; it does not publish a firm licence number, and the practice has no BBB business profile we could locate, so the review corpus and the state licence are the load-bearing evidence here.
Solomon & Associates, CPA
Colorado's register lists Solomon Nalyanya under CPA licence 29793, first issued on 20 October 2016 and Active to 30 November 2027 — the newest licence on this list, which is the reason for the placement rather than anything to do with the work. The firm's own site describes it as a certified public accountancy firm and publishes an office on South Parker Road in Aurora with a direct phone number.
Its published scope is broader than most single-principal practices in this category: accounting and bookkeeping, tax planning and preparation for individuals and businesses, tax resolution, internal and external auditing, cost report preparation, and financial planning. The Better Business Bureau rates the firm A+ on a business it records as starting in March 2011, without accreditation. Attest work — audits and reviews — is a materially different engagement from tax preparation, so if that is what you need, confirm in writing which of the two entities on the sign is performing it and under what independence terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check that an Aurora accountant is really a licensed Colorado CPA?
Use the state register rather than the firm's website. The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies runs the public licence lookup at apps2.colorado.gov, and the Division of Professions and Occupations also publishes the complete CPA licensee file as open data on the Colorado Information Marketplace — searchable by surname, and showing licence number, first-issue date, expiry, and status. What you want to see is a status of Active. Statuses such as Expired, Inactive, or Beyond 6 Years Expired all appear in that same file, and none of them permit someone to hold themselves out as a practising CPA. For a preparer who also works in other states, NASBA's CPAverify service cross-checks licences nationally. Every licence number on this page was read from the Colorado register and can be re-checked the same way.
What is the difference between a CPA, an enrolled agent, and an unlicensed tax preparer?
A CPA holds a state-issued licence — in Colorado, from the State Board of Accountancy — and is the only one of the three who can perform attest work such as an audit or a review of financial statements. An enrolled agent is credentialed federally by the IRS, specialises in tax, and holds unlimited representation rights before the IRS but cannot issue an audit opinion. An unenrolled preparer needs only a federal PTIN to prepare a return for payment and has sharply limited representation rights if that return is later examined. The IRS maintains a public Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications so you can confirm which category a preparer falls into before you hand over documents.
Do Aurora businesses file city sales tax separately from state sales tax?
Yes. Aurora administers its own sales and use tax rather than routing it through the Colorado Department of Revenue, so a business selling inside the city generally deals with the city's tax division as well as the state. The city publishes a sales tax rate of 3.75 percent, and because Aurora spans Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, the combined rate at a given address comes to 8.00, 8.50, or 8.75 percent depending on which county portion the address sits in. Two shops a few blocks apart can therefore collect at different combined rates. Ask any prospective firm directly how it handles the city filing and the county-boundary question; a firm that genuinely works in Aurora will answer it without hesitation.
Does a Colorado CPA licence expire, and what does 'Active' mean on the register?
Colorado CPA licences renew on 30 November of odd-numbered years. The continuing education reporting period runs biennially from 1 January to 31 December, ending in odd years, and requires 80 hours of CPE across the period, including four hours of ethics — of which no more than two may be in Colorado Rules and Regulations. A status of Active on the register means the licence is current within that cycle. This is why the expiry dates on every licence cited on this page read 30 November 2027: that is the end of the current renewal period, not a countdown specific to any individual firm.
What should I ask an Aurora accounting firm before signing an engagement letter?
Ask for the licence number and confirm it yourself on the state register before anything else. Then ask who will actually prepare and sign the return, since in smaller practices that is not always the named principal. Ask whether the fee is hourly or fixed, what triggers work outside the quoted scope, and specifically whether representation in an IRS or Colorado Department of Revenue examination is included or billed separately — that is where engagements most often diverge from expectation. If you need an audit, review, or compilation rather than tax preparation, confirm the firm performs attest work and that it is independent of your business under the applicable standards. Any firm that hesitates over the licence question has answered a different and more useful question.
Is a BBB rating a reliable signal when choosing an accountant?
It is a partial one and should not be read as a substitute for the licence check. Several firms on this page carry an A+ rating while showing as not BBB Accredited — accreditation is a paid membership programme, so its absence carries no adverse meaning. One firm here is listed as Not Rated, which the Better Business Bureau states is a lack of sufficient information rather than a negative finding. The more consequential record is the state one: the Colorado licence file shows status and disciplinary standing, and that is the register that governs whether someone may practise at all.
Sources & References
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Colorado DORA, Division of Professions and Occupations (Colorado Information Marketplace)
CPA — All Status (complete Colorado CPA licensee file)
The state licence register itself. Every licence number, first-issue date, expiry, and Active status cited on this page was read from this file.
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Colorado DORA, Division of Professions and Occupations
Colorado State Board of Accountancy — program information
The board that issues, renews, and disciplines Colorado CPA licences. Rejects some automated fetchers with HTTP 403 while returning 200 to an ordinary browser; open it by hand.
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Colorado DORA
Verify a Colorado Professional or Business License — public lookup
The lookup a reader should use to re-check any licence number here. It is a form-post portal and answers HTTP 405 to a plain automated request; run the search by hand in a browser.
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Colorado Society of CPAs (COCPA)
Becoming a CPA — Colorado education, exam, and experience requirements
Backs the description of what a Colorado CPA licence requires: 150 credit hours, 1,800 verified work hours, and the AICPA ethics exam.
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NASBA Registry of CPE Sponsors
Colorado CPE requirements for CPAs
Backs the 30 November odd-year renewal date, the 80-hour biennial CPE requirement, and the four-hour ethics component in the FAQ.
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National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
CPAverify public search — national CPA licence verification
Cross-checks a Colorado licence against other jurisdictions for preparers who practise in more than one state.
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Internal Revenue Service
Choosing a tax professional — Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications
The federal directory behind the CPA, enrolled agent, and unenrolled preparer distinction drawn in the FAQ.
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City of Aurora
Sales Tax — rates and business obligations
Source for the 3.75 percent city rate and the 8.00 / 8.50 / 8.75 percent combined rates across Aurora's Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas county portions.
Our Recommendation
For an individual or small-business return where continuity matters, T Rodriguez & Assoc. carries the longest continuously maintained Colorado CPA licence of any firm we verified in Aurora — first issued in 1971 and still Active — behind a practice trading since 1985 at a published Aurora address. For homeowner association work, James Moore & Associates is the only firm here with a stated Colorado firm licence and a volume niche, handling more than 200 associations a year including the audits, reviews, and independent ballot counts that association documents frequently require. If public review evidence is what you weigh most heavily, Ryan Barrett CPA has by a distance the largest corpus on this list.
Whichever you approach, do the one check that costs nothing. Take the licence number from this page or from the firm, open the Colorado licence lookup, and confirm the status reads Active before you send a single document. A licence is the only claim in this category that a reader can verify as thoroughly as we can, and it is the one claim that decides whether the person preparing your return is permitted to call themselves a CPA at all.
Denver Dean's List maintains editorial independence. We do not accept payment for rankings or accept advertising from the companies we evaluate. Rankings are based on state licence records, publicly available reviews, verified credentials, and editorial research. Nothing on this page is tax, accounting, or legal advice, and no outcome of any kind is stated or implied. Licence status changes; verify it yourself before engaging any firm.