Privacy: a priority.

• Position: Brief Article

Public concern with business privacy policies continues to gain importance. Most CPA firms, as well as many of their clients, must comply with privacy requirements, such as those imposed on financial institutions by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and on health care providers by the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPPA). Furthermore, in a recent BusinessWeek article ("Privacy: What CEOs Need to Know," April 13, 2004), Jane Black cited the prediction of Brian Tetrick, Ernst & Young's head of privacy-related services, that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's requirement that CEOs and chief financial offers certify that their financial houses are in order could be applied to data privacy and security.

In response to requirements--and demands--for privacy protection, the Institute developed a Privacy Framework and Criteria to guide members in providing privacy compliance services. In the May 2002 Practicing CPA, Everett Johnson, who chaired the Privacy Task Force initiative, wrote, "Our work is guided by the proposition that, because of their expertise in business...