The AICPA Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) has voted to issue a new standard in late May containing revised compilation and review report requirements.
The new standard is titled Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS) No. 24, Omnibus Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services — 2018. Its release date is intended to decrease the impact on practitioners during the busy season.
The most significant impact of SSARS No. 24 is the creation of a new AR-C Section 100, Special Considerations — International Reporting Issues, in the AICPA Professional Standards that will provide requirements and guidance for an accountant who is engaged to perform a compilation or review when one of the following is true:
- The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with a financial reporting framework generally accepted in another country, or
- The compilation or review is to be performed in accordance with both the SSARSs and another set of compilation or review standards.
In addition, SSARS No. 24 will amend AR-C Section 60, General Principles for Engagements Performed in Accordance With Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services, and AR-C Section 90, Review of Financial Statements. These amendments will harmonize the requirements and guidance regarding the accountant’s consideration of going concern in a review of financial statements with the corresponding requirements and guidance in AU-C Section 930, Interim Financial Information. These amendments also will preclude an accountant from referencing, in an accountant’s review report, the review or audit report of other accountants if that accountant’s report contains an alert that restricts the use of such report.
SSARS No. 24 also includes an amendment to paragraph .39 of AR-C Section 90 that makes the requirements regarding the content of the accountant’s review report consistent with the illustrative examples in Exhibit C of AR-C Section 90. The amendment will become effective upon the issuance of SSARS No. 24.
Practitioners who have been reporting in accordance with the illustrative reports provided in the exhibit to AR-C Section 90 or the illustrative accountant’s review reports in paragraph 1.239 of the AICPA Guide, Preparation, Compilation, and Review Engagements, will not need to update their report templates. This technical correction only brings the requirements in line with the report; it does not change the report illustrations. Practitioners who have not been reporting in accordance with the illustrative reports may need to update their report templates.
Except for the amendment to paragraph .39 of AR-C Section 90, SSARS No. 24 will take effect for compilations and reviews of financial statements for periods ending on or after June 15, 2019.
— Ken Tysiac (Kenneth.Tysiac@aicpa-cima.com) is a JofA editorial director.
