Highlights of Board of Directors' July Meeting.

Among other actions at its meeting on July 13-14, the AICPA Board of Directors:

* Discussed the draft Report and Recommendations of the Public Oversight Board's Panel on Audit Effectiveness and expressed concern for many of the panel's conclusions, while noting the need to keep the profession forward-looking, dynamic, able to react quickly to marketplace issues, and able to serve the public interest by relying on professional judgment and effective self-regulation.

* Discussed the proposed SEC Rule on Auditor Independence and concluded that, while the proposed modernization of rules relating to financial interests and family relationships were needed and overdue, the proposed restrictions on non-audit services were too far-reaching and not in the public interest. The board further concluded that the AICPA should attempt to prevent adoption of the rule as exposed (see page 1).

* Heard a presentation on a Total Value Creation project, which would provide Web-based, XBRL-enabled financial reporting that is tied to events and assumptions that are...