FBI looks to CPAs to play key role in battling white-collar crime.

• Position: News update - Federal Bureau of Investigation, Certified public accountants

The CPA profession's strong reputation for upholding the highest standards of business ethics and conduct has convinced the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the AICPA could be an invaluable ally in the nation's war on white-collar crime and in restoring investor confidence to the financial markets, according to a ranking FBI official.

"The CPA's rich tradition of independence and integrity that investors, businesses and everybody else looks to led us to see if we could broaden and deepen this relationship with the AICPA," said Grant Ashley, CPA, Assistant Director in charge of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division.

"We believed we could reach the greatest number of CPAs through a joint effort," Ashley said, referring to the relationship with the AICPA. "The CPA's role in uncovering and preventing fraud cannot be underestimated."

The new joint effort was launched publicly with the premiere of "Arresting Financial Fraud: The Inside Story from the FBI," a Web cast co-sponsored by both organizations, now available on CD-ROM from www.cpa2biz.com/webcasts.

The FBI is handling a record 1,200 securities and corporate fraud cases, 156 of them representing millions or billions of dollars in losses for thousands of suffering victims. As part of the FBI's strategic overview of white-collar crime, Ashley said, his agency realized CPAs are an essential part of winning the fight.

"It was clear to me that the CPA profession is uniquely situated in the partnership - in education, in focusing and sharing information on what we're seeing and what the profession is seeing," Ashley said.

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