PCPS update.

• Position: Karl Nagel & Company - Www.pcaob.com - Private Companies Practice Section

PCPS Update--Critical Information for CPA Firms

PCPS is here to help you succeed. How? We step back and look at resources and regulations and think about how they will impact our members--CPA firms. We bring you up-to-date resources and information that shape your practice today and will impact your business in the future. We step beyond just telling you what's going on and offer tools to help your firm react to changing environments. So what's going on? What can you do now to get ahead of the game? Here are the best tools, sites, information and events available for CPA firms today. Take advantage of them. Tell us what you need. We're here to help you succeed.

Technical Information & Resources

* Free Sarbanes-Oxley and PCAOB Resource for Firms

Karl Nagel & Company has created a new website, www.pcaob.com, which provides a central resource for practitioners to access research standards and regulations as mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition to regularly updated news content, the site provides information available about free downloads, such as a SOX 404 CPE PowerPoint presentation, which addresses from a logical, top down approach the new regulations and controls. The presentation links each of the core concepts to separate and/or aggregate processes, objectives, risks, controls, tests, evidence and reporting. Check the site regularly for free information and resources. For official information about the PCAOB, visit www.pcaobus.org.

* Free Sarbanes-Oxley Guides

Protiviti has published an independent resource that practitioners may find helpful. The recently updated Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Internal Control Reporting Requirements contains new questions reflecting the SEC's revised rules pertaining to Section 404. Although it is addressed primarily to management, it is also informative for audit firms that intend to build a consulting practice around helping management perform self-assessment, particularly with regard to documenting controls.

In addition, Protiviti has released a new publication, Guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: IT Risks and Controls--Frequently Asked Questions, which offers guidance to Section 404 compliance project teams on the consideration of information technology risks and controls at both the entity and activity levels within an organization. The questions and answers focus on the interaction between the IT organization and the entity's application and data-process owners, and explain the implications of...