Government's money laundering strategy focuses on role of accountants and other professionals; legislation pending.

• Position: News update - Brief Article

The Bush Administration recently released its 2001 strategy for combating money laundering in a report required to be submitted to Congress annually (www.treas.gov/press/releases/ po625.htm). As in prior strategy reports, the Bush report associates accountants (without singling them out from lawyers or bankers) with money laundering. The association is either by "being employed by criminals to disguise unlawful monies" or by having a role in detecting and deterring money laundering (as CPAs are "gatekeepers" to the domestic and international financial system).

One of the five major goals of the strategy is to continue cooperative private/public sector efforts and "necessary regulatory measures." One of the goal's objectives is to increase the usefulness of reported information to law enforcement agencies and the financial industry, with a priority given to continuing to address the role of legal and accounting professionals in fighting money laundering.

Last year AICPA representatives met with federal government representatives on the "Gatekeepers" Working Group of the National Money Laundering Strategy Implementation Group. That dialogue is...