Establishing Standards and Rules
The AICPA is empowered to set standards (guidelines) and rules that all members and other practicing CPAs must follow. The requirements are set by committees made up of AICPA members. There are four major areas in which the AICPA has authority to set standards and make rules.
1. Auditing standards. The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) is responsible for issuing pronouncements on auditing matters. They are called Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs) The ASB and its predecessor organizations have been responsible for a considerable portion of the existing auditing literature. The SASs are examined later in this chapter and discussed throughout the text.
2. Compilation and review standards. The Accounting and review Services Committee is responsible for issuing pronouncements of the CPA’s responsibilities when the CPA is associated with financial statements of privately owned companies that are not audited. They are called Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS). SSARS 1, issued in December 1978, supersedes preceding statements on auditing standards for unaudited financial statements. It covers two specific types of services: (1) situations in which the accountant assists a client in preparing financial statements without giving any assurance about them (compilation services) and (2) situations in which the accountant performs inquiry and analytical procedures that provide a reasonable basis for expressing limited assurances that there are no material modifications that should be made to the statements (review services).
3. Other attestation standards. In 1986, the AICPA issued its Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements. The purpose of that statement is twofold. First, it provides a framework to be followed by standard-setting bodies within the AICPA in developing detailed standards on specific types of attestation services. Second, it provides a framework for guidance to practitioners when no such specific standards exist. Both generally accepted auditing standards and compilation and review standards are consistent with the broader attestation standards. An example of a specific standard on other attestation services that has been issued under the broader attestation standards is the Statement on Standards for Accountant’s Services on Prospective Financial is the Statement on Standards for Accountant’s Services on Prospective Financial Information. This standard is studied in Chapter 24.
4. Code of Professional Conduct. The AICPA Committee on Professional Ethics sets rules of conduct that CPAs are required to meet. These rules apply to all services performed by CPAs and provide a framework for the technical standards. The rules and their relationships to ethical conduct are the subject of Chapter 4.