Does a firm need credentials to do budgeting for clients?

Wish everyone a great and relaxing Long weekend!

A new client approached me for a budgeting project (items include payroll budget, overhead, consulting, fees, profit, ..., etc.).
I have not done budgeting for my own clients but do have some experience while I worked for my former employer.

I wonder if any firm in bookkeeping/accounting/tax areas can take such project or the firm has to be for example, a registered CPA firm to do the project?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated!

Don't have to be a registered CPA from my perspective, but be very clear in your assistance. I wouldn't provide any sort of report format, or anything with letterhead.

I think a better starting point is to set the client up with a template and walk them through what goes into it, have them complete that, and then you assist with giving it a sanity check (see if they are missing expenses, see if revenue projections are based on a reasonable metric, COGS is adjusted for increased sales, etc.). For many small businesses, they don't really understand what they spend money on (or how much they spend in certain categories) - it can be very eye-opening for them to estimate what they think they spend, and then compare that to prior actuals... value add for the client.

Thank you, HenryDavid, for detailed and quick response!
I am a CPA but haven't got the time to register my firm as a CPA firm. In this case, can my firm generate budget reports for client?
I understand that the client will use the budget report to apply for funding from state for his business.
Thank you again!

If the client is planning to give the report to someone, that definitely increases the concern - because the client is very likely to say something to the effect that the report was "prepared by a CPA", or "reviewed by a CPA", etc. In this case, it sounds like you are acting in the role of a consultant for the business (as an independent contractor).

If the client is willing to go this route, I'm thinking the report should only reference the company (with no reference to you or your company), and I'd recommend including a note indicating that the budget is internally-prepared by the company and was not reviewed or prepared by a registered CPA, and that the report was only prepared for the specific purpose of....and should not be used or relied on for any other purpose.

Just some thoughts...

Thank you so much again! I agree that enough caution needs to be taken in this case as the report will be used by third parties.