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State Board Report

December

While recognizing that there may be situations where it would be beneficial for a CPA to perform an engagement as described in the AICPA’s Accounting and Review Services Committee’s proposal for a selected procedures engagement, NASBA leaders cautioned ARSC that such engagements do still need to have a party take responsibility for the sufficiency of the procedures performed in such an engagement.

NASBA’s November 27 comment letter stated: “We disagree with the proposal that no party would be required to take responsibility for the sufficiency of the procedures. There is a general public perception that, when a certified public accountant has signed their name to a document, that a practitioner has used due professional care in determining the sufficiency of the procedures, unless there is a division of responsibility clearly identified as currently done in AT-C section 215 engagements today.”

The ARSC exposure draft questioned, if the general-use selected procedures are permitted, then should additional language be included in the report? The NASBA response was: “In order to avoid confusion of the general public as to the sufficiency of the procedures performed and the related intended use, we believe that the report should include disclosure of the party or parties that determined the procedures to be performed by the practitioner.”

NASBA’s complete response to this ARSC exposure draft, and other proposals, can be found on www.nasba.org.