CPA Now Blog

The scope of the AICPA’s Enhancing Audit Quality initiative is considerable, and its accomplishments to date have been far-reaching, demonstrating AICPA's commitment to bettering the audit.

While most CPAs conceptually support high quality audits, many are not necessarily aware of the importance of supporting documentation or what that documentation should look like. The AICPA has identified several misconceptions regarding audit documentation.

On June 1, 2017, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board finalized its six-year project to overhaul the auditor’s report. The new standard requires auditors to communicate critical audit matters in the audit report.

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) recently issued an exposure draft that would significantly change the reporting model for employee benefit plans (EBP) subject to ERISA. The proposal is the result of a collaborative effort by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the ASB to address audit quality issues. The joint DOL/ASB working group concluded that some of the procedures unique to EBPs should be highlighted in the auditor’s report. The DOL was asked to provide a list of what they want included in the report. This blog highlights two of the more significant proposals.

The stress of attempting to bridge a client’s needs and expectations with the needs and expectations of regulatory bodies is frustrating enough; it is even more so when regulators are requesting things that you cannot ethically provide. Fortunately, the PICPA can help ensure that CPAs are asked to provide only those services that comply with professional standards, the AICPA and PICPA Codes of Professional Conduct, and state CPA statutes.