By Bruce H. Nearon

Over the past five years, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) have introduced standards to address marketplace needs for assurance about systems reliability and e-commerce activities. These standards consisted of principles and criteria and were applicable specifically to two AICPA/CICA services: SysTrust and WebTrust. Although the SysTrust and WebTrust principles and criteria differ in minor respects such as structure and style, in substance they are very similar. (For instance, both services address the need for assurance about security and availability.)

After assessing the objectives of SysTrust and WebTrust, the AICPA and CICA have concluded that the next step in the evolution of these standards is to harmonize the underlying principles and criteria where commonalities exist and conform the presentation and wording of the standards. It is not the goal or intent to change the SysTrust or WebTrust services, or to introduce additional branded services at this time. Introduced under a common banner of Trust Services, the principles and criteria are the result of this harmonization effort.

Under the Trust Services principles and criteria, there has been no increase in the number of principles heretofore covered under SysTrust and WebTrust. In fact, the criteria for the maintainability principle that existed in the SysTrust principles have been subsumed under other principles. Therefore, the proposed harmonized set of principles consists of online privacy, security, confidentiality, availability, and processing integrity.

Participate in an overview of the Trust Services by attending the July 1 continuing professional education (CPE) morning presentation organized by the New York State Society of CPAs’ Technology Assurance Committee. The seminar will cover:

• The basics of SysTrust and WebTrust
• Why the two services were combined
• The value these services can offer to your clients
• New service marketing opportunities for your firm
• What you need to get started

Date: Tuesday, July 1
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.: registration, networking, free continental breakfast; 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.: CPE session
Presenter: Thomas E. Wallace, CPA; KPMG
Location: NYSSCPA headquarters, 530 Fifth Ave. (between 44th and 45th streets), fifth floor, New York City

About the Presenter

Thomas E. Wallace is a partner in KPMG’s information risk management practice. Currently, he is responsible for managing product and methodology development and deployment for the IRM practice globally. He has over 30 years’ experience in technology auditing and management, serving clients in a variety of industries, with a concentration in the financial services sector.

Mr. Wallace received a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration from Valparaiso University. Prior to joining KPMG, he spent 24 years with the IS-audit practice of another public accounting firm, and one year as general auditor and compliance officer for an information systems service provider. A member of the AICPA, he is the Institute’s current chairman of the Trust Services Task Force, the body that developed the SysTrust and WebTrust frameworks. He recently was appointed chairman of the Assurance Services Executive Committee, the senior authoritative body within the Institute for assurance (i.e., nonaudit) services. He also is KPMG’s representative on the SAS 70 Task Force and the Technology Issues Task Force (which authored SAS No. 94) of the Auditing Standards Board.

Mr. Wallace’s professional affiliations also include the New York State Society of CPAs, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. He was a charter member of the Board of Governors of the Long Island Chapter of the IIA, and served as chapter president in 1993–1994.

Additional Information

This NYSSCPA/Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) CPE morning presentation is free to NYSSCPA members and $15.00 for nonmembers to qualify for one hour of CPE credit.

At the session you will get the chance to network with the profession’s and the industry’s IT leaders.

Advance registration is encouraged, because seating is limited.

For additional information, contact Gary E. Carpenter at 315-487-4567 or gcarpenter-cit@worldnet.att.net or Bruce H. Nearon at 973-403-6955 or bnearon@jhcohn.com.

For more information on the Technology Assurance Committee, visit www.nysscpa.org, click on the Find Committees tab on the left-hand side of the page and then scroll down to the Technology Assurance Committee link.

Registration

To register: contact FAE at 212-719-8383 or 800-537-3635 or visit the Society’s website at www.nysscpa.org (you will need your Society member number to register). Go to the Technology Assurance Committee homepage and select “7/1/03-Trust Services” located under the Free IT CPE banner.

Acknowledgments

J.H. Cohn LLP and Carpenter Information Technologies, Inc., helped provide the funding and resources for the continental breakfast, marketing and publicity, and administration of this event.