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December 2009 |  BY MICHAEL RAMOS, CPA |  Article

The aim of the risk assessment auditing standards was to improve the quality and effectiveness of audits by substantially changing audit practice. Statements on Auditing Standards nos. 104� provide increased rigor to the audit process in a number of key areas including the assessments of inherent and control risks and the linking of these risk assessments to further audit procedures.

October 2009 |  Article

The SEC on Friday announced that the smallest public companies have six more months to provide audited assessments on the effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting. Under section 404 of the SarbanesOxley Act, public companies and their independent auditors are each required to report to the public on the effectiveness of a company’s internal controls.

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.

September 2009 |  Article

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) on Tuesday published a document to help boards of directors strengthen their oversight of enterprise risks. The fourpage paper, Effective Enterprise Risk Oversight The Role of the Board of Directors, calls attention to COSO’s Enterprise Risk Management—Integrated Framework (2004) and its definition of ERM.

July 2009 |  Article

GASB released a statement that incorporates accounting and financial reporting guidance, which was previously only contained in the AICPA’s auditing literature, into GASB’s financial reporting literature for state and local governments. Statement no. 56, Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards, addresses three issues from the AICPA’s literature relatedparty transactions goingconcern considerations and subsequent events.

May 2009 |  Article

IFAC has published a Guide to Quality Control for Small and MediumSized Practices. This nonauthoritative implementation guide is intended to help SMPs understand and efficiently apply International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC) 1, Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Financial Statements, and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements, as redrafted under the IAASB’s clarity project.

May 2009 |  BY G. WILLIAM GRAHAM |  Article

Editor's note G. William Graham is the AICPA Peer Review Board chair. The effects of the newly revised AICPA Standards on Performing and Reporting on Peer Reviews (Standards) will be farreaching. They directly impact more than 30,000 firms enrolled in the AICPA’s practicemonitoring program. In addition, the revised standards affect other stakeholders including those responsible for firms’ qualitycontrol functions, administering entities, peer reviewers, and regulators.

April 2009 |  Article

IFAC has published a Guide to Quality Control for Small and MediumSized Practices. This nonauthori

February 2009 |  Article

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD) launched a Web site that gives guidance on using internal controls to prevent or eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. “Fraud Indicators in Procurement and Other Defense Activities” provides common fraud indicators in contracting and other areas susceptible to fraud.

February 2009 |  Article

The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) issued the second clarified auditing standard resulting from its clarity project, which aims to make U.S. GAAP easier to understand and apply and gives each standard a principlesbased objective. Statement on Auditing Standards Audit Documentation (Redrafted) supersedes AU section 339, Audit Documentation. The standard is expected to be effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after Dec.