Client privacy notification required.

• Position: Brief Article

The Federal Trade Commission has declined grant an exemption for CPAs and other professionals from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act privacy policy disclosure mies; therefore, CPAs must continue to comply with its requirements.

Practically speaking, AICPA members will need to do little beyond the procedures they already follow to protect client confidentiality. However, beginning in this year (2002), the Act requires annual disclosure of your privacy protection policies to all non-business, individual clients to whom you provide financial products or services, including tax returns, tax advice and financial planning. The required notice can be included with a client bill, a tax organizer, or other client communication, such as a client newsletter, as long as the notice is "prominent." For new clients, you must provide the privacy disclosure notice no later than the acceptance of the client relationship, generally in the engagement letter.

We are disappointed the...