Task Force Seeks Input
Peer Review Group Up and Running

By Simon Eskow

The New York State Society of CPAs’ Peer Review and Ethics Task Force leaped into action in May, beginning with an active dialogue on peer review, quality standards and practice monitoring that promises to continue for several meetings before any recommendations are made. The task force’s charge involves a comprehensive assessment of the NYSSCPA’s capacity to support the practice monitoring and ethics programs needed for the current environment.

“There has been some very lively discussion,” task force Chairman Brian Caswell said. “We have a lot of topics to talk about, but no recommendations yet. The discussion has been ‘What can we do as a society to provide members with value that would make them want to choose practice quality programs like peer review.’”

Caswell said that by the time of publication the task force would have had its third meeting in just about two months, a high frequency for a volunteer task force, and a reflection of the importance of the issue. Caswell said it could take several months before the task force could move on to questions about ethics, but he urged members to contribute their opinions of peer review in order to help the task force in its ongoing efforts.

The NYSSCPA Board of Directors in November established the task force to scrutinize the possible expansion of the Society’s limited and voluntary peer review program, especially in the light of the shifting regulatory landscape. Peer review under current law is not a prerequisite to practice in New York state, although a bill passed in the Senate last month mandates initial and regular reviews for all CPA firms that perform attest and compilation.

Passage of that bill, which has only gone through one house of the state legislature, would affect many CPAs who have had no experience with peer review in the past. Caswell said the task force is probing ways to give those CPAs incentives and reasonable opportunities to help them adapt to the new regulatory environment.

“The task force has a real concern to provide realistic and helpful ways to bring in…a group of practitioners who aren’t experiencing peer reviews,” Caswell said. “We know there is value in monitoring. How can we deliver this value more effectively to more CPAs? We want to find out what we can provide to those that might have a negative opinion of peer review.”

“My initial opening comment to the committee was we have a clean sheet of paper,” Caswell said. “We have no preconceived notions.”

Caswell said the nine-member group will continue to meet once every two or three weeks, and he encouraged all members to voice their opinion of peer review by contacting him at brian@caswellaccountants.com.