Serving members' interests: an update on AICPA initiatives.

As a professional organization, the AICPA has two critical goals: to help CPAs live up to their time-honored commitment to the public interest, and to provide timely, effective tools to support CPAs in maintaining their competencies and leading role in American business and finance. This special feature highlights some of the many ways the AICPA has met these responsibilities in recent months.

Addressing Private Company/Small Firm Issues

* The AICPA and the Financial Accounting Standards Board are seeking comments on a proposal that explores the concept of financial reporting standards for privately held companies. The proposal outlines process changes in how the FASB sets standards and describes a new committee that would review existing and prospective GAAP for relevance to non-issuers. In the end, the goal is to provide the information that the country's 20 million private companies and their financial statement users need, while reducing costs where possible and minimizing unnecessary burdens on CPAs. The proposal may be found at www.pcfr.org. Comments are due Aug. 15.

* How can members learn which issues are the most challenging for other practitioners? According to the "PCPS Top Issues in Practice Management" survey, finding and retaining qualified staff once again was foremost on the minds of firm leaders. PCPS publishes one list of key issues for all firms, and then breaks down the data to highlight concerns for practices of various sizes, from small practitioners to much larger firms. Practitioners can use the information to benchmark general trends against their own experiences. In addition, the AICPA uses the survey results to customize programs that meet the needs of firms of all sizes. To learn more, go to www.aicpa.org/pcps.

* As part of its efforts to help members grapple with staffing and succession issues, the Institute has created a series of resources specially tailored for members in smaller firms. At the upcoming Emerging Partners Training Forum (www.northstarconferences.com/conferences.asp?code=67EP T01), for example, promising future leaders will be able to learn specifically what makes a CPA firm leader successful. In addition, the white paper, Best Practices in Recruiting and Retaining Talented Staff (http://pcps.aicpa.org/Resources/ Staffing/Recruiting+and+Retention/Best+Practices+in+Recru iting+and+Retaining+Talented+Staff.htm), provides further practical insights into those issues. For firms looking for guidance on succession, PCPS has created a variety of resources, including a book, white paper and Web casts (http://pcps.aicpa.org/Resources/Succession+Planning/Succe ssion+Planning+Product+Overview.htm).

* Small firms have a lot going for them, and the AICPA intends to help them maximize their benefits. A new PCPS initiative is based on the principle that despite their modest size, small firms have considerable advantages that they can leverage to give them a competitive edge in recruiting, retention, client service and other vital business areas. Small firms will gain invaluable insights and support from PCPS's many new efforts, including its rededication to initiatives and publications that highlight the Small Advantage. Among them are a new logo that can help members quickly locate related resources and an article describing the initiative in the July Journal Accountancy.

Speaking Up for the Public Interest

* A special task force of the AICPA Board of Directors has called for revising the peer review reporting model to be shorter and more understandable and usable. The AICPA task force was formed to evaluate the results of an online poll conducted as a part of the AICPA's peer review transparency member awareness initiative and recommend enhancements to the profession's peer review programs. Although the primary purpose of the poll was to assess members' desire to provide greater transparency of peer review results, many of the comments from respondents, regardless of their attitudes toward greater transparency, expressed the need for clarification of or revisions to various aspects of the AICPA peer review programs. As a result of its evaluation and obtaining input from various users of peer review information, the task force developed its report (www.aicpa.org/transparency/ index.htm).

* As part of Institute efforts to enhance the usefulness and relevancy of financial reporting, AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon testified before Congress in Mar. on the need for a new financial reporting model that would enable investors to make decisions based on current rather than historical data. Melancon told a House subcommittee that, coupled with enabling technologies such as XBRL, enhanced financial reporting could provide investors with an improved range of more timely, accessible information. To learn more, go to www.aicpa.org/download/news/2006/AICPA_House_ Capital_Markets_Subcommittee_Testimony_3_29_06.pdf...