The AICPA’s Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagement (SSAE) No. 19, Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements, applies to reports dated on or after July 15, 2021. SSAE 19 provides flexibility to a practitioner’s ability to perform agreed-upon procedures engagements by removing the requirement that the practitioner request a written assertion from the responsible party.

The traditional way of doing information technology (IT) and SOC 2 audits is going away, and it’s happening really fast. Automation is here, and it’s having an impact. But that doesn’t mean CPA firms cannot adapt and enhance their practices, deliverables, and value. Embracing automation, and the tools that facilitate it, are the key.

The rigor of the Uniform CPA Examination is a considerable hurdle for those pursuing a career in accounting. For a subset of candidates, though, it is the testing environment itself that poses the greatest challenge. For those candidates, accommodations based on a proven need can be provided.

When managing a virtual workforce, building a remote-work policy is crucial. This document must spell out the objectives of virtual work teams and define which employees are eligible and the conditions under which they should work.

Sustainability reporting, or social accountability as it is sometimes called, is receiving increased attention. It has been defined as encouraging companies to go beyond their legal responsibilities to invest in and improve their human capital, physical environment, and relations with diverse stakeholders. In this column, we look at the importance of social accountability in the minds of corporate leaders, review the research that investigates the performance of companies that embrace sustainability reporting, and discuss disclosure frameworks.

Noncompliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) pertains to suspected or identified noncompliance, including fraud, by CPAs. How this knowledge or suspicion impacts a current or successor CPA firm within the constraints of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct confidentiality guidance of ET 1.700, as well as a range of nuanced state laws and regulation pertaining to client/employer confidentiality, has been at the core of the profession’s years-long wrestling with NOCLAR issues.

Whistleblower investigations come in all shapes and sizes, and they occur irrespective of the quality of a company’s compliance program or internal controls. In this feature, I will examine investigations from the assumed point of view that the whistleblower is a company employee or third party alleging a potential violation of company policy through an established internal whistleblower process.

Text analytics, also referred to as text mining or textual analysis, consists of data mining techniques and software programs that analyze and extract insights from unstructured textual data, such as PDF documents, HTML pages, emails, and social media posts. These techniques have been generally used in academia, library services, artificial intelligence (AI) research, and marketing.

Of the many factors that go into a nonprofit achieving its mission, one of the most important assets sometimes goes overlooked: tax exemption. The benefit provided at the federal, state, and local levels frees essential funds to support operations that otherwise would be paid out in taxes. This can often be the difference between success or failure.