January 2003 - Journal of Accountancy

o be successful financial planners and investment advisers, CPAs must keep up with a wide range of changes in investment products, technology, economic conditions and client management techniques. While the body of required knowledge may at times seem overwhelming, much of it is in fact just common sense. Here are

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS CONCERN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL ISSUES and corporate governance increases, CPAs may find more interest among their clients in investment strategies and mutual funds that emphasize social responsibility. SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS INVESTORS MAKE DECISIONS by screening for positive and negative issues, shareholder advocacy, community investing and providing social

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THERE ARE TWO BASIC RISKS IN the CPA profession: catastrophic service failure, such as that from providing inaccurate audit-related services, and business failure caused by losing top-quality clients. A FIRM THAT CONCENTRATES ON IMPROVING leadership, staff and the client base can enhance partner, staff and firm performance and

ersonal financial planners help clients identify financial goals, organize ways to achieve them and set timetables for implementation. Together, a planner and client look at the clients total financial picture, including income, savings, investments and debts as well as his or her personal situation. Then, they analyze where the money

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MANY CPA VOLUNTEERS AT NPOs ASSUME state and federal laws protect them from legal liability. However, unpaid workers and board members aren’t protected if an NPO violates federal or state civil rights laws or in instances where sexual offenses occur, for example. BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD BE CAREFUL about

Auditors will enter a much expanded arena of procedures to detect fraud as they implement SAS no. 99. The new standard aims to have the auditor’s consideration of fraud seamlessly blended into the audit process and continually updated until the audit’s completion. SAS no. 99 describes a process in which

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AN INCREASE IN AUDITOR CHANGES HAS LED t o an increase in reaudits, raising unique practice considerations for the CPAs that perform them. Reauditors can use the guidance in SAS no. 84, Communications Between Predecessor and Successor Auditors and Practice Alert 02-3, Reauditing Financial Statements to help with

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE, you may be able, with just a few mouse clicks, to access any public company’s financial reports in extraordinary detail and for any period. In addition, you may be able to perform an array of instant analyses of those data. THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY is