Tax Executive Committee exposes proposed statements on standards for tax services.

• Author: Ferguson, Carol B.
• Position: AICPA

On April 18, 2000, the AICPA Tax Executive Committee exposed drafts of proposed Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTSs) and an interpretation of statement No. 1. The exposure process is a necessary step in adopting enforceable standards in the tax area.

Between 1964 and 1977, the Tax Executive Committee issued the Statements on Responsibilities in Tax Practice (SRTPs), which are advisory and educational in nature. The SRTPs established a body of advisory opinions providing guidelines for CPAs in tax practice.

These guidelines, as set forth in the SRTPs, have come to play a much more important role than most members realize. The courts, IRS, state accountancy boards and other professional organizations recognize and rely on the SRTPs as the appropriate articulation of professional conduct in a CPA's tax practice. In effect, the SRTPs, in and of themselves, have become de facto enforceable standards of professional practice as tax practitioners are regularly held accountable for failure to follow them, through state disciplinary organizations and malpractice cases when their professional practice conduct fails to meet the prescribed guidelines of conduct defined in the Statements.

The AICPA Tax Executive Committee believes the Institute can best serve the public and our tax professional members by adopting enforceable standards of conduct for tax practice. The AICPA Board of Directors has agreed and, with Board support, AICPA Council set the stage for enforceable tax standards by designating the Tax Executive Committee as a standard-setting body in October 1999. Such designation authorizes the Tax Executive Committee to adopt these statements as enforceable standards after a 90-day exposure period.

Practice standards are the hallmark of calling one's self a professional. Members should fulfill their responsibilities as professionals by instituting and maintaining standards against which their professional performance can be measured. The promulgation of practice standards also reinforces one of the core values of the AICPA Vision--that CPAs conduct themselves with honesty and integrity. Moreover, such a move is fully consistent with the AICPA Mission Statement that the AICPA "is to provide members with the resources, information, and leadership that enable them to provide valuable services in the highest professional manner to benefit the public as well as employers and clients."

Compliance with professional standards of tax practice...