PCPS update.

• Author: Caturano, Richard J.
• Position: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Private Companies Practice Section

Dear PCPS Members: Happy New Year!

As we kick off a new year of opportunities and challenges, it seems like the right time to look back on PCPS's accomplishments in 2003 and think ahead to what we hope to achieve for local and regional firms in 2004.

2003: The Year In Review

PCPS continued to advocate for local and regional firms during this time of changing standards. Simultaneously, we created several resources and tools geared specifically toward the small firm practitioner.

Clearly, an important aspect of adding value for members is communicating our work and these resources to the PCPS community. That's why this year we launched a monthly email newsletter to all member firms, called the PCPS Brief. The Brief synthesizes information, news and resources around a particular issue or concern and offers actionable ideas that can be implemented in firm practices. For past issues, visit www.pcps.org and click on "Member Resources", then "News", then "PCPS Briefs." We also continued to update the PCPS Web site to give members convenient access to all of the resources and information that PCPS has to offer.

Here are highlights of the many benefits PCPS offered during 2003:

Advocacy

* Sarbanes-Oxley response: To help small firm practitioners get their arms around the different facets of emerging legislation, the February 2003 issue of The Practicing CPA featured summaries of the main presentations from the November 2002 MAP Forum on Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition, two former PCPS Executive Committee members, Bill Balhoff and Neal Harte, are participating on the AICPA Special Committee on State Regulation (the Kathy Eddy Committee) that is addressing issues related to effects of Sarbanes-Oxley cascading to the state level. Finally, PCPS continues to work with the AICPA on responses to Sarbanes-Oxley, to monitor the impact legislation is having on our firms and our clients, as well as to identify practice opportunities that arise, including Section 404 compliance work.

* Technical Issues Committee (TIC): During recent congressional testimony, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Chair Robert Herz stated that FASB relies on TIC to report small businesses' concerns about proposed accounting standards. Herz mentioned TIC twice in describing to the Subcommittee on Securities and Investment of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs how the FASB gains information on issues of importance to small businesses. Issues TIC has...