Working for the public interest and the profession: an interim report.

Institute staff and volunteer committees work year-round to create programs and services that benefit members and to enhance CPAs' professionalism and the profession's image. This interim report provides an update on some of the AICPA efforts during the last six months (see the July issue of The CPA Letter for a previous report on activities).

Serving the Public Interest

* The Governmental Audit Quality Center, which was launched in Sept., is a firm-based, voluntary membership center designed to promote the importance of quality governmental audits and the value of such audits to purchasers of governmental audit services. For information on resources, tools and other benefits, as well as membership requirements, visit http://gaqc.aicpa.org or call 202/434-9259. This newest Audit Quality Center joined two others already in existence: the Center for Public Company Audit Firms (http://cpcaf.aicpa.org), which offers enhanced resources to firms that audit publicly traded companies and which was launched in Jan., and the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (http://www.aicpa.org/ebpaqc/homepage.htm), for CPA firms performing employee benefit plan audits, which opened in Mar.

* The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee adopted two new ethics rulings and one revised ruling that address a member's responsibilities when outsourcing services to third-party service providers. Based on PEEC's definition of third-party service providers, the new standards would apply to any entity that the firm does not control and any individual not employed by the firm, including all independent contractors used by the firm. The rulings are available at www.aicpa.org/download/ethics/2004_1028_outsourcing.pdf.

* The AICPA's governing Council approved a resolution expressing its support for increased transparency in the peer review process. It also authorized a member awareness program to inform members about peer review and the related transparency issues, and to assess their desire for greater transparency. Any substantive increase in transparency, such as creating a mandatory public file for all peer review reports or making peer review reports available to state licensing agencies (i.e., state boards of accountancy), will only be put in place after AICPA members have had the opportunity to vote on the change. For more information, members can go to www.aicpa.org/transparency/index.htm.

* Enterprise Risk Management--Integrated Framework discusses the key components, principles and concepts of enterprise risk management for organizations of all sizes. It was published by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations, which is dedicated to improving the quality of financial reporting. The AICPA is a founding member of COSO. For more information, go to http://www.aicpa.org/news/2004/2004_0929.htm.

* Understanding and Implementing Trust Services contains guidance to help CPAs evaluate an organization, identify problems, offer recommendations on appropriate controls and provide assurance to management and other stakeholders. It is based on an update by the AICPA and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants of the principles and criteria for advisory, consulting and attestation engagements in security, privacy...