AICPA seeks comments on proposed changes to QM standards

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) is seeking comments on a proposed Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) designed to align concepts related to quality management standards with standards for audits, reviews, and compilations.

Comments on the exposure draft of the SSAE, Amendments to the Attestation Standards for Consistency With the Issuance of AICPA Standards on Quality Management, will be accepted through Dec. 1. The SSAE would become effective for engagements performed beginning on or after Dec. 15, 2025.

Last year, the ASB and the Accounting and Review Services Committee issued four interrelated standards on quality management (QM) to align with QM standards issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, headlined by Statement on Quality Management Standards (SQMS) No. 1, A Firm’s System of Quality Management.

“Because the intention of the proposed SSAE is to amend the SSAEs such that practitioners comply with the existing requirements of SQMS No. 1 as applicable to an attestation engagement, the ASB does not believe that the proposed SSAE, if issued as a final standard, will significantly affect practice,” the ASB wrote in the ED’s introduction.

Comments on the ED should be directed to CommentLetters@aicpa-cima.com.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.