Summary
In a roundtable discussion, members of the New York State Society of CPAs' Quality Enhancement Policy Committee discussed the concepts put forward by the white paper on Quality Review and the state of peer review in the accounting profession. Vincent J. Love of Kramer Love & Cutler LLP thinks the time is right to look at peer review and see what could be done to improve on it, to meet the profession's current needs. Andrew M. Cohen of Weiser LLP said that there might be a perception that there are differences depending upon the size of the firm, but a CPA should be a CPA. Love said once you accept the review engagement, you have an ethical responsibility to apply all of the standards and to apply them properly, including the ethical due-care standard. One area the committee looked at in developing the white paper was the quality of the people doing the peer review.
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Extract
Rethinking Peer Review From the Inside Out
In the past five yearsvtte accounting profession has seen a great deal of discussion about self-regulation and what it means. In 2004, then-NYSSCPA president John Keamey appointed Stephen F. Langowski to head a Quality Enhancement Policy Committee to study all of the ways quality is evaluated, by the profession, by the Society, and by the state of New York. The Committee was charged with focusing in particular on the current issues of peer review, ethics, and education. The first topic the Committee studied in depth was the peer review program. It asked whether peer review was working adequately to meet the needs of today.
All of the panelists-Thomas E. Riley, of TFG CPAs, Brian A. Caswell, of Caswell & Associates CPAs P.C., Andrew M. Cohen, of Weiser LLP, John H. Eickemeyer, of Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz (public member of QEPC), Mark Ellis, of Michael C. Fina, Martha A. Jaeckle, of Jaeckle Keamey & Lepselter, Stephen F. Langowski, KMPG LLP, Vincent J. Love, of Kramer Love & Cutler LLP, Michael L. McNee, of Marks Paneth & Shron LLP (original QEPC member, reappointed January 30, 2006), and Robert E. Sohr-served on the committee that developed the white paper on Quality Review, which appears in its entirety on page 12 ("Quality Review"). The panel discussion, moderated by CPA Journal publisher and NYSSCPA executive director Louis Grumet, encompassed the concepts put forward by that white paper and the state of peer review in the accounting profession.Bringing Peer Review Up to DateLouis Grumet: The Quality Enhancement Policy Committee's white paper takes a close look at the peer review system that has been in place in the profession over the past few decades. What do you think of peer review as it exists in the profession, and specifically in New York?Vincent J. Love: I think when peer review was first put into place it met the needs of the time. Those needs have changed, par...See the full content of this document
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