What is the difference between a CPA’s unqualified opinion or “clean” opinion and a qualified one?

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) may be a designation given to authorized accounting specialists. The CPA permit is given by the Board of Accounts for each state.

The CPA communicates a"clean" or unqualified conclusion when the client's financial statements are presented based on an examination of the client's monetary position, and the results of the operations can be understood with largely accepted oversight measures, and the statement is widely accepted. Conforms to accounting standards and includes all information disclosures that are fundamental to creating a fraud-free explanation.

The CPA expresses a qualified conclusion when it must take exception to the introduction of one or more components of the financial statements, but the exception or exceptions are not sufficient to actually rule out or "adverse" the expression of an estimate opinion.