Oral explanations as documentation in a review under SSARS 19
SSARS 19 places some limits on how oral explanations can be used as documentation in a review. …
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Compilations & reviews
Documentation for a review can be located outside the review workpapers
One creative idea for your documentation – SSARS 19 has a helpful comment that the documentation for a review can rely on documents outside of that particular engagement.
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Documentation for a review can be located outside the review workpapersRead More »
Documentation of reviews – time to stop saying ‘done’
The list of required documentation in the previous posts here and here doesn’t really seem to be a massive expansion of requirements, right? Obviously the impact will depend on what the level of documentation has been in your firm. For the firms I’m familiar with, those specifics are not going to open up a lot of new documentation requirements.
There is one place where a lot of firms may need to make a change:
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Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 2
Previous post started a discussion of the specific documentation required for a review. Here is part 2.
Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:
- Flash update on SSARS #21
- Newly approved SSARS will allow a new service, ‘preparation’. Will also require written & signed engagement letters.
- Sample compilation report under SSARS 21
- Sample accountant’s review report for SSARS 21
- Video overview of SSARS 21
- New risk alerts for 2014/2015 are available
SSARS 19 says the documentation for a review should include (remember should is a loaded word in the SSARS literature):
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Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 2Read More »
Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 1
Yesterday’s post discussed the overall objective of accumulating documentation for a review. This post gets into the specific requirements.
SSARS 19 says the documentation accumulated depends on the circumstances.
Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:
- Flash update on SSARS #21
- Newly approved SSARS will allow a new service, ‘preparation’. Will also require written & signed engagement letters.
- Sample compilation report under SSARS 21
- Sample accountant’s review report for SSARS 21
- Video overview of SSARS 21
- New risk alerts for 2014/2015 are available
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Specific required documentation for a review under SSARS 19 – part 1Read More »
Documentation requirements for a review under SSARS 19
I discussed the documentation requirements for compilations previously here and here. Now it is time to start the discussion of documenting a review.
Our starting point is to address the word should.
Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:
- Flash update on SSARS #21
- Newly approved SSARS will allow a new service, ‘preparation’. Will also require written & signed engagement letters.
- Sample compilation report under SSARS 21
- Sample accountant’s review report for SSARS 21
- Video overview of SSARS 21
- New risk alerts for 2014/2015 are available
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Documentation requirements for a review under SSARS 19Read More »
CPE class on SSARS, written by Jim Ulvog – arriving soon
(cross-posted from Nonprofit Update.)
I have written an on-line CPE course on SSARS called Compilation and Review: Practice Issues. It is a 3 hour course covering a variety of practice issues for CPAs providing comps and reviews. It is written at the overview level.
Arriving soon at the CCH Learning Center. When it is available on-line, I’ll give more detail and a link to the course.
I wrote the course in a little more casual voice that you might expect to see in a technical class, but not quite as casual as you see on this blog. If you enjoy the style of writing you see here, you might enjoy the online CPE.
More detail to follow!
UDPATE: Course now available. See post here.
Reports on comparative financial statements under SSARS 19
Oops! Looks like I got a little ahead of the professional literature when I drafted samples of comparative review and compilation reports. SSARS 19 does not explicitly address comparative financials.
What’s the issue?
Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:
- Flash update on SSARS #21
- Newly approved SSARS will allow a new service, ‘preparation’. Will also require written & signed engagement letters.
- Sample compilation report under SSARS 21
- Sample accountant’s review report for SSARS 21
- Video overview of SSARS 21
- New risk alerts for 2014/2015 are available
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Documentation of compilation – on one hand and then on the other
The discussion of documentation requirements for a compilation under SSARS 19 has an open-ended comment allowing wide lattitude on one hand and specific requirements on the other hand.
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Documentation requirements for a compilation under SSARS 19
SSARS 19 has specific documentation requirements for compilations and reviews. I will discuss these requirements in a series of posts.
Compilations first. Reviews later.
The overall documentation requirement is that the accountant should prepare documentation in a compilation with sufficient detail to give a clear understanding of the work performed.
Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. The entire body of knowledge has been revised. See:
- Flash update on SSARS #21
- Newly approved SSARS will allow a new service, ‘preparation’. Will also require written & signed engagement letters.
- Sample compilation report under SSARS 21
- Sample accountant’s review report for SSARS 21
- Video overview of SSARS 21
- New risk alerts for 2014/2015 are available
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In a peer review, you are graded against your quality control document – don’t set the bar so high you cannot meet it
CPA firms have a lot of latitude in defining their quality control system. There are basic components that must be addressed, but firms have the ability to define for themselves how to get there.
One think to keep in mind is that during a peer review your firm’s written quality control document (it has to be written by the way) and SQCS 7 will be the criteria against which your firm will be graded. The highest standard set by either of those two documents will be your standard. How could this create a problem for you?
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Criteria for an engagement quality control review cannot be that you feel like it
SQCS 7 requires CPA firms to define the criteria for an engagement quality control review. I discussed that here.
The criteria have to be objective. …
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How to handle engagement quality control reviews in a small firm
SQCS 7 requires a policy for engagement quality control reviews in all CPA firms. There is no size cutoff. However the rules do anticipate great flexibility in establishing the criteria.
It is perfectly appropriate to fine tune the criteria so that a relatively small number of engagements would be selected. How?
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Engagement quality control reviews are required for your quality control system under SQCS 7
Under the new rules for a quality control system, CPA firms who have accounting and auditing work (that means any compilations or reviews), must have a policy addressing engagement quality control reviews.
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Q: Are engagement letters absolutely, positively required for a compilation or review?
Three answers, take your choice: short, smart alack, or technical.
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Q: Are engagement letters absolutely, positively required for a compilation or review?Read More »