There have been a few interesting announcements from the AICPA lately. Let's run through them.
Topping the list is a Q&A document that examines revenue recognition proposals from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board — proposals that could impact nearly all entities that have contracts with customers. You'll also want to read the AICPA's industry-specific feedback on the proposals.
Next up — and just when we'd begun wondering when we'd hear more from the internal control front — is an AICPA white paper titled “Understanding Internal Control and Internal Control Services.” The paper “seeks to clear up confusion among practitioners relating to the concept of internal control over financial reporting,” write Thomas Ratcliffe and Charles Landes. “It describes the concepts of internal control (specifically internal control over financial reporting) and discusses the types of services related to internal control that may be performed by practitioners in public practice.” Download the paper here.
Finally, there's a new exposure draft that offers up revisions to a series of interpretations to Rule 101 (titled “Independence”) of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. Read up on the revisions here, then be sure to submit your comments to the AICPA before the Nov. 6, 2009 deadline. Comments should be sent to Lisa A. Snyder, director of the AICPA's Professional Ethics Division, at lsnyder@aicpa.org.
We have a few resources that offer a deeper look at some of these issues. They include the following:
- Internal Control Procedures for QuickBooks Users: Sept. 15 | Dec. 4 | March 8
- Sept. 21: Auditing Real-World Frauds: A Practical Case Application Approach
- Sept. 29: Real Estate Accounting and Financial Reporting: Tackling the Complexities
- Nov. 2: Identifying and Communicating Internal Control Deficiencies Under SAS Nos. 112 and 115
- Ethics and independence programs