CPAs are the gold-standard trusted advisor for their clients and employers. In practice, CPAs are held to a higher standard, bound to go beyond the bare minimum when it comes to rooting out fraud, avoiding conflicts of interest, and upholding ethical standards. The byproduct, as discussed throughout this issue, is that managing risk and minimizing liability is critical.

Finding fraud before it happens has always been a difficult task. Barry Jay Epstein and Sridhar Ramamoorti suggest that the profession's risk models may be ill-equipped to deal with a particular kind of fraudster—the abnormal “dark triad” personality—that is unfortunately found often in the executive ranks. A different tack is taken by Cynthia Waddell, who shows how network analysis can be used to find the pernicious relationships within and across organizations that are indicative of collusive fraud.

With the SEC's stepped-up enforcement initiatives, CPAs need to be more cognizant than ever of what is expected of issuers. Ronald Betman describes the current enforcement process and procedures and recommends strategies for ensuring compliance. Craig Ehrlich and Joanne Williams describe the hazards facing CFOs, who may be legally responsible for misstatements even if they were not aware of them. Avoiding such liability requires that CFOs institute a strong system of internal controls and keep it well maintained.

CPAs can face professional liability in all kinds of situations, making it an important consideration for any kind of practice. Suzanne Holl presents three different case studies to illustrate the variety of dilemmas that CPAs can find themselves in. And Michael Pescatore and John Raspante review the top considerations for a client screening, acceptance, and termination process, which can be vital to mitigating liability and enhancing quality control.