It depends. CPAs are licensed to prepare and give qualified opinions about the accuracy of financial statements. An enrolled agent is someone, other than an attorney or CPA, who may practice before the IRS, but are not actual members of the IRS. Neither designation confers any formal knowledge of tax law or IRS internal audit procedure. Even if your CPA does have some formal training in tax law, most lack the formal legal training to interpret the ramifications of tax court cases and advise on other related legal issues. A tax preparer that is a not a CPA or an enrolled agent may be even less qualified. Keep in mind the following when deciding who should represent you in an audit. Should your audit escalate to a high level, only a qualified tax attorney can represent you before the Tax Court. Furthermore, conversations with these individuals are not protected by the attorney-client privilege and may be used against you later in the audit or in court.  

Furthermore, if your CPA/enrolled agent/tax preparer is the person who prepared the return being audited, there may be additional complications. A preparer’s natural inclination is to defend their work and not appear incompetent in front of their client. This creates a natural conflict of interest and may be very damaging during the audit. In cases of negligence or perceived fraud, the preparer will be very hesitant to accept responsibility for their own mistakes. Furthermore, some audits are conducted because the IRS has found a large amount of mistakes or suspects fraud based on its review of other returns the person or firm prepared. Your preparer may suspect this based on interactions with their other clients, but may not disclose this to you until after the damage has been done. 

Avoid a potentially serious and costly mistake. Rather than take your chances with unqualified or unfit representation, get an independent analysis by someone knowledgeable in tax law who can properly defend your rights in an audit.