The year in review: the value of your AICPA membership.

• Position: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Welcome to The CPA Letter's annual "Year in Review." This special feature describes how the AICPA has worked to enhance members' professional opportunities and advance the profession. In the following section we describe some of the more significant developments of the past year. We also highlight some of the many benefits, discounts and other savings available to members.

A Year of Challenges and Opportunities

Amid the many challenges of the past year, the AICPA has been working to benefit members and expand their professional opportunities. For example, were you aware that:

* In our response to developments stemming from Enron Corp.'s bankruptcy, the AICPA has been an active and effective voice for our members and for positive, constructive reforms that meet a four-point public interest test. In testimony before Congress, in media contacts and in member communications, we pledged support for proposals that (1) help investors make informed decisions, (2) enhance the quality of audits and the financial reporting process, (3) help maintain confidence in the capital markets and (4) will be good for America's economic growth. While this test leads to support for changes in disciplinary and quality monitoring processes for auditors of SEC registrants, we remain vigilant in guarding against any cascading effect of such proposals to private company and smaller firm environments.

* The AICPA mounted an aggressive two-way media relations effort to help maintain the public's trust in CPAs and in our capital markets in these turbulent times. Our leadership and senior staff have participated in hundreds of print, television and radio interviews and initiated meetings with editorial boards of key national publications to put forth our positions.

* Member communications also have been enhanced. We continually update www.aicpa.org with links to information in text, audio and video formats regarding legislative activity, AICPA official statements and communications, media reports and other Enron-related items. A new electronic newsletter, "AICPA News Update," sent to members for whom the AICPA has e-mail addresses, was created to keep members informed of emerging events on a timely basis.

* To help spread our message that CPAs serve clients and employers each and every day with integrity, we ran new national print ads and network radio ads. A number of state CPA societies placed the ads locally. Moreover, members included the print ad with tax returns and correspondence to clients, framed it for display in public areas, and provided copies in reception areas.

* The AICPA raised serious public policy and self-regulatory concerns in light of the General Accounting Office's standards on auditor independence in Government Auditing Standards, which are expected to have a significant impact on audits of many governments, not-for-profit entities, and for-profit entities that receive federal assistance or participate in federal programs. A major concern was the detrimental effect the new standards could have on smaller entities and small CPA firms. With the standards now finalized, the GAO has committed to work with us to develop implementation guidance and clarify issues.

* To modernize the profession's rules on independence, the Professional Ethics Executive Committee adopted revisions to financial interest and family relationship rules under Rule 101-Independence. The new rules encompass an engagement-team-focused approach to independence, which extends to those who can influence the engagement, an approach already supported by other independence standard-setters and regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the International Federation of Accountants. The committee also revised an interpretation that permits a modified application of Rule 101 for certain engagements to issue restricted-use reports under the statements on standards for attestation engagements.

* A major effort has been under way to enhance and update the fraud standard and the framework for the audit process. Some expect the final standards to have an impact on the conduct of audits comparable to that of the "Expectation Gap" standards issued in 1988. As part of this effort, the Auditing Standards Board issued a proposed standard, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, which revises SAS No. 82, establishes standards and provides guidance to auditors in fulfilling their responsibility as it relates to fraud in an audit of financial statements conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. In addition, the AICPA published the online guidance, "Related Party Toolkit, A Guide for Auditors...