Ethically Speaking

In this first of two episodes on forgiveness engagements, you'll hear about areas of the AICPA professional standards you need to be aware of when helping your clients with loan forgiveness, including the code of conduct. Listen, as Toni Lee-Andrews, Director of the AICPA Professional Ethics Division hosts a discussion with Jim Brackens AICPA, Vice President of Ethics and Practice Quality and Bob Dohrer, Chief Auditor of the AICPA Audit and Attest Standards team. Resources mentioned in this episode will be available soon on the show notes page at aicpa.org/ethicallyspeaking.

In this episode, you'll hear our update on NOCLAR (noncompliance with laws and regulations), the inducements practice aid, IESBA (the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants), the monitoring group recommendations, and a status report on the Statements on Standards for Tax Services. You'll hear about an Association update from Sue Coffey, executive vice president for public practice and also the PEEC strategy and work plan. In this meeting, PEEC voted to re-expose the staff augmentation proposal for comment. Our next PEEC meeting is November 17. We'd love you to join us. Go to www.aicpa.org/PEECmeeting and register to attend.

In this episode Diane Jules, deputy director of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and Ellen Goria, associate director of the AICPA Professional Ethics Division, discuss IESBA's recently released staff Q & A document. If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected].

Listen as Diane Jules, deputy director of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and Ellen Goria, associate director of the AICPA Professional Ethics Division, discuss the board's goals and the relevance of the board's work to U.S. accountants. If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected].

In this episode, Carl Mayes, CPA, and Michele Craig, CPA, discuss the AICPA's Enhancing Audit Quality Initiative: its purpose, history, current areas of focus and some of the ongoing quality challenges firms face. What you'll hear in this episode: • When, why, and how EAQ began. • Mechanics and logistics. Where do the numbers come from that drive relevance? • Some of the successes of the initiative. • 2020 goals for EAQ. • Long term goals

Staff augmentation arrangements and non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) were two of the liveliest discussions this quarter. The Professional Ethics Executive Committee also approved a one-year deferral of the effective date of three interpretations: Information System Services, State and Local Government Client affiliates, and Leases. PEEC meetings are open to the public and we always welcome feedback and input about projects and plans. Updates in this episode: • Non-compliance with laws and regulations • Staff augmentation arrangements • The ethics division's three-year strategy and work plan • Convergence with IESBA's inducements standard • One-year effective date deferral of three ethics interpretations • Revision project for the AICPA Statements on Standards for Tax Services Curious about meetings? Join us for one! Here's our remaining 2020 meeting schedule: • August 11 • November 17 We welcome observers and we'd love you to join us. Please go to aicpa.org/PEECmeeting to register for an upcoming meeting. If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected]

Listen as Aradhana Aggrawal and April Sherman, two of our independence and behavioral managers, talk about ethics hotline activity and about the new Qs&As we've released on hosting. Just in time for tax season, we've answered questions on general ledger software, tax returns, and independence. What you'll hear in this episode • (00:40) Background, definition, and what the hosting interpretation says. • (02:00) What questions were coming in when the interpretation became effective? • (04:13) What about nonattest services for affiliates? How does the interpretation apply? • (05:30) Newly released questions and answers on general ledger software, tax returns, repeat requests for documents, and the by-product of engagements. • (11:41) Center for Plain English Accounting upcoming report on the hosting services interpretation. Resources mentioned in this episode • The new Qs&As are in Frequently Asked Questions: Nonattest services. Go to page 22 and look for question 5 and 8‒10. • You can find the Hosting Services interpretation in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct at section 1.295.143. • Keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-published CPEA report on hosting. Members of this section have access to a wide variety of helpful reports and tools, written in straight-forward and clear style. Consider joining today! If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected]

Tune in to this episode of Ethically Speaking to hear the latest about projects the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee is working on. PEEC meetings are open to the public and we always welcome feedback and input about projects and plans.

CPAs are a helpful bunch! How can we avoid letting that delightful characteristic put us in the position of auditing our own work when we help our clients in their implementation of the new rev rec standard? In this episode of Ethically Speaking, Toni Lee-Andrews, director of the AICPA Professional Ethics Division, and Bob Dohrer, chief auditor of the AICPA Audit and Attest team, sit down to explore some of the unique challenges auditors may face this year as a result of FASB ASC 606. What you'll hear in this episode: • (2:42) Avoiding management responsibilities with the client's FASB ASC 606 implementation team. What are some things the auditor can and can't do? • (5:20) Clients' looking to the auditor for implementation help. What are the challenges with that? • (6:30) What if an audit team finds out the client has done nothing to implement the standard? • (11:20) What are some challenges related to the pervasiveness of rev rec to the financial statements? • (12:25) How do internal controls factor into the client's implementation of the standard? Can the attest CPA play a role? • (16:40) What if the client doesn't have good internal controls, puts a number down for revenue, and asks the auditor to audit against that number? • (20:20) What are some things CPAs can do? • (21:30) What resources does the AICPA have to help auditors? This episode's web page with resource list will be available at www.aicpa.org/ethicallyspeaking soon. If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected]

What (and who) you'll hear in this episode: • Toni Lee-Andrews: Introduction and welcome (00:36) • Brian Lynch: PEEC three-year strategy and work plan consultation paper (00:52) • Lisa Snyder: Staff augmentation (01:54) • Anna Doudourekas: Inducements (04:12) • Ellen Goria: IESBA update (06:04) • Nancy Miller: State and local government*; IT and cloud services - (9:40) • Stephanie Saunders: AICPA tax standards revision project (10:25) • Robert Denham: NoCLAR (non-compliance with laws and regulations) (11:30) • April Sherman: Records request interpretation (15:10) • Sarah Chun: What it means to have a brand voice and how this may affect PEEC content (16:55) • Toni Lee-Andrews: Upcoming episodes, including a special video edition covering independence considerations when helping clients implement the new revenue recognition standard (20:27) *PEEC discussed the SLG practice aid. At the February 2020 meeting, the task force will present revisions based on the discussion.

Why this is an important topic for members (00:34) Explanation of AICPA's tax standards (00:58) History of the tax standards (02:10) Past AICPA ethics investigations into tax standards violations (03:45) Tax questions to the AICPA ethics hotline (04:40) About the current revisions of the tax standards (06:40)

Want to stay up to date with ethics guidance? Tune in to this episode of Ethically Speaking to hear the latest on projects the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee is working on. In its open meeting this quarter, the committee discussed several topics including NOCLAR, IESBA developments, inducements, staff augmentation, and the three-year strategy and work plan. Staff presented updates on helpful implementation guidance for hosting services and auditors of state and local government entities. PEEC meetings are open to the public and we always welcome feedback and input about projects and plans. What (and who) you'll hear in this episode: • Toni Lee-Andrews: Introduction of Brian Lynch, new committee chair (00:48) • Brian Lynch: PEEC three-year strategy and work plan (01:30) • Andy Mintzer: IESBA update (03:58) • Robert Denham: NOCLAR (06:51) • Stephanie Saunders: Statements on Standards for Tax Services, revision project (10:30) • Ellen Goria: Hosting services, new FAQs (13:45) • Ellen Goria: Staff augmentation (18:05) • Anna Doudourekas: Inducements (23:10) • Melissa Powell: Implementation guidance for auditors of state and local governments (24:50) • Jennifer Kappler: Updates on tools to apply the guidance for client affiliates. (26:41) If you have questions about the substantive content of this episode, please call the ethics hotline at 888.777.7077 (option 2, then option 3) or email [email protected]. If you have other comments on this episode or if you'd like to suggest topics for future episodes, please email [email protected].

Listen in on this second hosting services episode to hear answers to questions coming into our hotline and received at the recent Engage conference. What you'll learn in this episode: • Hosting services explained (1:03) • Why hosting services impair independence (2:05) • What tax practitioners need to provide to their clients to meet the requirements of this interpretation (4:40) • About UNICAP calculations (6:25) • What qualifies as hosting when a third-party cloud service is used (7:20) • How the interpretation affects members' portals (9:47) • About services that are not considered hosting (11:13) • Members' responsibility to safeguard client information (13:50) • Final thoughts on professional judgment, retroactive responsibility, safeguarding client information, and work papers (15:25)

Do you know whether you're providing hosting services to your clients? Will your independence be impaired when the ethics guidance takes effect on July 1? Get answers to these questions and more in this informative episode. Hosting services explained (0:53) Why the new guidance is necessary and what issues it's addressing (2:08) Benefits to members and the public of the new guidance (3:50) Examples of services that are and aren't hosting and will or won't impair independence (6:15) Crossover between records requests and hosting services (11:29) Implementation guidance offered by the ethics division (13:00) About portals and hosting (15:05) Reasonable period of time defined (17:50) Recurring bookkeeping services and hosting (21:06)

Outgoing PEEC chair Sam Burke, division director Toni Lee-Andrews, and various task force leaders discuss the "State and Local Government Client Affiliates" and "Information System Services" interpretations as well as other key happenings at PEEC's open meeting on May 15.

The AICPA Professional Ethics Division has resurrected our perennially popular newsletter as a podcast. In this inaugural episode, Toni Lee-Andrews, the director of the division, speaks on our vision and the value we hope to bring members and other interested parties. You'll hear plans for education, member enrichment, and how we'll use the podcast to support standard setting and engagement with our members and the profession.