AICPA proposes plan to improve audit performance

AICPA proposes plan to improve audit performance

Six point plan marks AICPA's latest push to drive higher audit performance

THE American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has published its six-point plan to improve audits that provides a roadmap for the profession.

The plan focuses on financial statement audits for private companies, employee benefit plans and governmental entities in the US and marks AICPA’s latest push to drive higher audit performance in an increasingly complex and fast-changing business environment.

Barry Melancon, AICPA president and CEO, said: “Audit quality has always been a CPA profession imperative. And as the issue has risen in importance worldwide, we recognized that a bigger, bolder step was needed to address challenges related to financial statement audit performance.

“This concerted effort is at the core of the profession’s quality-driven mission to meet the needs and challenges of a rapidly changing financial marketplace.”

The six point plan outlines enhancements in key areas such as pre-CPA licensure, standards and ethics, CPA Learning and Support and peer review.

‘Practice and monitoring of the future’ also gets a look in as does ‘ethics enforcement and NASBA collaboration’.

Susan Coffey, senior vice president of public practice and global alliances at AICPA, which boasts over 400,000 members in 145 countries, said: “The entire profession must be committed to enhancing audit quality, just as the AICPA is committed to supporting our members with the necessary tools, training and resources.

“This six point plan will promote the pursuit of quality throughout a CPA’s journey – from before an individual is licensed to when he or she builds professional competency and engages in peer review and practice monitoring. It places the necessary emphasis on areas that we believe will help our members stay focused on achieving the highest level of performance for financial statement audits.”

 

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