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October 2009 |  Article

The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) released exposure drafts of revisions to guidance regarding the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (the Code). The EDs make clarifying revisions to an ethics ruling under Rule 301, Confidential Client Information, and to two interpretations and one ethics ruling under Rule 101, Independence.

September 2009 |  BY Thomas A. Ratcliffe, CPA, and Charles E. Landes, CPA |  Article

This white paper written by Thomas A. Ratcliffe and Charles E. Landes and prepared by the AICPA Audit and Attestation Standards and Professional Publications teams seeks to clear up confusion among practitioners relating to the concept of internal control over financial reporting. It describes the concepts of internal control (specifically internal control over financial reporting) and discusses the types of services related to internal control that may be performed by practitioners in public practice.

August 2009 |  BY Matthew G. Lamoreaux |  Article

The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) voted on Thursday to release exposure drafts of revisions to guidance regarding the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (the Code). The EDs, which will be released this month for a 60day comment period, make clarifying revisions to an ethics ruling under Rule 301, Confidential Client Information, and to two interpretations and one ethics ruling under Rule 101—Independence.

July 2009 |  BY Matthew G. Lamoreaux |  Article

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) on Friday issued a revised version of its Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants that strengthens auditor independence requirements. The IESBA is an independent standardsetting board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). The revised code, which is effective Jan.

May 2009 |  BY GERALD H. SCHREIBER JR. |  Article

The AICPA’s Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTSs) have been updated, clarified and streamlined in proposed revisions now available for study and comment by AICPA members. They can be found on the Tax Division pages of the AICPA Web site at tinyurl.com5be2rk. The SSTSs are enforceable rules of conduct for AICPA members, in conjunction with the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct Rule 201, General Standards, and Rule 202, Compliance With Standards.

April 2009 |  BY Martin A. Leibowitz, Alan Reinstein |  Article

Company controller Plony, CPA, prepared his employer’s 2007 financial statements knowing that they misstated revenues. The company’s CEO, who could fire Plony at will, “strongly urged” Plony to record sales at full invoice prices despite customers’ rights to return merchandise long after a normal return period. Plony’s brotherinlaw, a company inhouse lawyer, wrote the sales contracts and assured Plony that recording the full sales amounts was appropriate.

March 2009 |  Article

Federal officials filed criminal and civil charges against Bernard Madoff’s auditor on Wednesday, and the AICPA expelled him from the Institute after concluding its own ethics investigation. In a civil complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the SEC alleges that from 1991 through 2008, David G.

January 2009 |  Article

The ethical—or unethical—behavior of an organization is a critical factor for new college graduates seeking jobs, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The NACE’s 2008 Graduating Student Survey found that current graduates are much more likely to avoid employers they perceive as engaging in unethical behavior than graduates in 1982.

October 2008 |  Article

FASB issued a revised exposure draft of a Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, Earnings per Share—an amendment of FASB Statement No. 128. The proposed statement is intended to improve financial reporting by clarifying and simplifying the method of calculating earnings per share. As part of international convergence efforts, the proposal seeks to eliminate major differences between FASB Statement no.

October 2008 |  BY F. Todd DeZoort, David K. Morgan, Thomas A. Ratcliffe, Mark H. Taylor |  Article

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Current technical literature precludes CPAs from performing review engagements when independence is impaired and requires modifying reports to disclose lack of independence in compilation engagements. The AICPA Reliability Task Force asserts that the conceptual foundation regarding the services CPAs provide to clients should be modified to refocus on reliable financial statements as the end game.