Federal Law (FCRA)
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) establishes the federal minimum requirements for employment background checks, including disclosure and authorization requirements, consumer rights, and the adverse action process. Many states impose additional requirements that employers must also follow.
Read FCRA OverviewAdditional Compliance Requirements
Beyond the FCRA, several sources determine the requirements for a compliant professional services screening program.
Licensing Boards
State boards admit and discipline accountants, attorneys, engineers, and architects, and publish their disciplinary records.
Client Contracts
Clients set screening requirements for consultants who work on their sites, handle their data, or access their systems.
State Regulations
State laws restricting credit reports, limiting criminal history use, and governing salary history and adverse action timing.
Government Contracts
Federal and state contract work adds facility credentialing and, for some roles, a government security clearance.
Recommended Screening Components
Background check components depend on the credentials a role claims, the client data it touches, and its access to money.
| Position |  SSN Trace |
 Address History |
 Form I-9 |
 County Criminal |
 National Criminal Database |
 Federal Criminal |
 Employment History |
 Education Verification |
 Credential Verification |
 Civil Records |
 Credit Reports |
 Global Watchlists |
 International Screening |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Support | |||||||||||||
| Analyst / Associate | |||||||||||||
| Consultant (Client Site) | |||||||||||||
| Licensed Professional | |||||||||||||
| IT Consultant | |||||||||||||
| Finance and Billing Staff | |||||||||||||
| Business Development | |||||||||||||
| Partner / Principal |
Form I-9 is required for every hire in the United States. No federal rule requires a background check for a professional services role.
Determined by client contracts, licensing boards, professional liability insurers, and firm policy. Credit reports appear more often here than in most industries because many roles carry access to client money.
Notes on This Package
The credential is the qualification. A degree, a license, and a certification are what the firm sells, and a bill rate is set on them. Misrepresentation concentrates in the credential rather than in employment dates, and the common patterns are an unearned degree from a real school, a real degree from an unaccredited one, and a certification that expired years ago. Verification through the issuing institution is what separates the three.
Credit reports carry a fiduciary rationale here. Client trust accounts, expense authority, and billing systems put many roles in direct contact with money that belongs to someone else. Most state laws restricting employment credit checks include an exception for positions with fiduciary responsibility, though the exception is written narrowly in some states and the job title alone does not establish it. Check the State Laws Overview for the states where you hire.
The client often screens the consultant a second time. A firm places a consultant at a client site, and the client’s own vendor requirements apply on top of whatever the firm ran. The two packages are rarely identical, so a consultant cleared by the firm can be held at the client’s door for a component the firm did not order. Firms serving regulated clients often adopt the strictest client standard as the house standard.
Drug testing is uncommon. Most professional services firms do not test, and no federal rule requires it. Firms holding federal contracts above a threshold amount maintain a drug-free workplace policy, which requires notice and a program but does not by itself require testing. Where testing does appear, it usually arrives through a client requirement.
Licensing and Professional Discipline
Accountants, attorneys, engineers, and architects are licensed by state boards that also discipline them. That record sits outside the court system and outside any criminal search.
Where discipline is recorded
State boards publish suspensions, revocations, reprimands, and consent orders in databases searchable by name. A reprimand for mishandling client funds appears there, not in a county criminal index, because the board acted administratively and no charge was ever filed. The reverse also happens, and a conviction can precede board action by years.
Licenses are held in several states at once
An attorney may be admitted in three states and a CPA licensed in four. Each board maintains its own record, and discipline entered by one does not appear automatically in the others. Reciprocal discipline exists in most states, but it runs on its own schedule and requires the second board to act. Verification covers every jurisdiction the person claims, not only the one where they currently work.
What a license verification confirms
It confirms that the license exists, its current status, its issue date, and any public discipline attached to it. It confirms nothing about competence and contains no criminal history. Character and fitness review happens at admission, sometimes decades earlier, and the board does not revisit it.
Beyond General Professional Services
Most firms run the package above. Several practice areas carry requirements that expand it.
| Public Accounting | Firms performing audits operate under independence rules restricting the financial interests and business relationships of covered staff. Firms collect independence disclosures and monitor them continuously, which runs alongside background screening rather than as part of it. |
| Legal Services | Admission follows a character and fitness review conducted by the state, and law firms hold client money in trust accounts subject to bar rules. Staff with access to those accounts are screened more closely than the associate roster. |
| Government Consulting | Working on federal property requires credentialing through the agency controlling the site, and some engagements require a government security clearance. Both are federal determinations that run separately from the firm’s own screening, and both take time that affects staffing dates. |
| Technology Consulting | Client system access drives the requirement, and clients in regulated sectors commonly specify the components, the lookback period, and a re-screening interval. See Technology. |
Screening Considerations
Education Verification
Degrees are verified through the institution or its designated clearinghouse, which returns the degree awarded, the date, and the field of study. Accreditation status is a separate question from whether the school exists, and unaccredited institutions issue real documents for degrees that carry no professional standing.
License Status and Discipline
Board records show current status and public disciplinary history, and both are checked for every state where the person claims a license. Status can also be inactive rather than revoked, which reflects a lapsed renewal instead of a finding against the person.
Client Screening Requirements
Vendor agreements commonly specify the components, the lookback period, and how recent the report must be. A consultant already cleared by the firm may need additional searches before a client will grant access, and the client’s requirement is what controls the start date.
Credit Reports and Fiduciary Access
Roles touching trust accounts, client billing, or expense authority are the ones where a credit report has a defensible rationale. State restrictions vary, and the exceptions that permit these reports are tied to the duties of the position rather than to the seniority of the title.
Civil Litigation History
Malpractice claims, fee disputes, and breach of fiduciary duty actions are civil filings that never appear in a criminal search. Civil records are county-based and inconsistently indexed, and a filing reflects an allegation rather than a finding.
Foreign Education and Work History
Degrees earned abroad are verified through the issuing institution, which can take weeks and may require a signed release in the local language. Criminal record availability outside the United States varies widely, and some countries release records only to the individual rather than to an employer.
Lateral and Partner Hiring
Senior hires arrive with a client following, a litigation history, and outside business interests that a standard package does not reach. Screening at this level typically adds civil records, business affiliations, and adverse media, and the FCRA rules on investigative consumer reports apply when interviews are part of it.
Ongoing Obligations
Licenses lapse, discipline is entered, and client agreements set re-screening intervals during an engagement. Reports obtained after hire require their own disclosure and authorization covering the period of employment.
Common Questions
Does a license mean someone was screened?
No. Character and fitness review happens at admission, often many years earlier, and the board does not repeat it. A current license confirms standing with the board and nothing about criminal history.
Where does board discipline show up?
In the licensing board’s own public database, not in criminal records. Boards act administratively, so a suspension can exist with no charge ever filed and no court file to find.
Do we check every state of licensure?
Yes, where the person claims more than one. Each board keeps a separate record, and discipline in one state does not appear automatically in another even where reciprocal discipline is available.
Can we run credit on all staff?
Several states restrict it and permit it only for positions meeting a defined exception, usually tied to fiduciary or financial duties. The exception follows what the role actually does, not what it is called.
What is an unaccredited degree?
A real document from an institution no recognized accrediting body oversees. Verification confirms the degree was issued, so accreditation status is a separate question that verification alone does not answer.
Why does a client re-screen consultants?
Because the client sets its own vendor access standard and cannot see what the firm ran. The client’s requirement governs site and system access regardless of what the firm already completed.
Do professional services firms drug test?
Usually not. No federal rule requires it, and where testing appears it generally comes from a client requirement or from federal contract work rather than from firm policy.
How long does foreign verification take?
Weeks rather than days, depending on the country and the institution. Some jurisdictions release criminal records only to the individual, which changes how the check is obtained and what the firm can expect to receive.
Related Positions
For the package that applies to a specific role rather than the industry as a whole:
Firms holding client funds or executing transactions are covered under Financial Services, where registration and regulatory disclosure apply.
Worth Knowing
White-Collar Cases Are Prosecuted Federally
Wire fraud, securities fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement crossing state lines are charged in federal court, and federal cases are filed in a separate system that county and state searches do not reach. A package built on county coverage will not find them.