Peer Review Services

Your Assurance of a High Quality CPA Firm

Do you sometimes wonder how our CPA firm measures up to the strict standards of the profession – the American Institute of CPA’s Code of Professional Ethics and its mandatory system of quality control policies and procedures for CPA firms?

It is an important point to consider, because your continued confidence in our firm should be based on more than a vague evaluation of our reputation in the business community or even the qualifications of the partners and staff who provide you with services. You should be able to rely on a more objective basis for evaluating the quality of a firm.

Division Membership

We heartily agree and have voluntarily joined the Division for CPA Firms of the American Institute of CPAs to prove it. As a member of the Division, we enthusiastically submit our practice to a comprehensive ‘quality review’ every three years. Known as a Peer Review, this process involves a specially-trained team of CPAs from other CPA firms who spend several days evaluating our system of quality control.

What is Reviewed?

In addition to reviewing our accounting and auditing policies and procedures, the team also determines, for example, that each partner and professional staff member participates in a minimum of 120 hours of continuing professional education every three years. Other areas reviewed by the team include:

  • Recruiting practices, to make sure we invite only the most qualified individuals to join our professional staff
  • Scheduling practices, to make sure that the most qualified individuals are assigned to an engagement
  • Supervision practices, to make sure that professional staff assigned to an engagement are adequately supervised, to assure efficient and effective services to our clients
  • Promotion practices, to make sure only qualified individuals are given more responsibilities for providing services to our clients

The Results

Following a thorough and objective analysis, the reviewer team issues a ‘report card’ on their findings. Every firm undergoing a peer review hopes to receive an unqualified report, synonymous with an ‘A’ for the firm’s professional practice.

We think you should know the results of our unqualified report because it confirms that your continued confidence in our firm is well-placed. We also think you should know that we are presently among only a fraction of CPA firms throughout the United States which have voluntarily chosen to put their commitment to quality to the test.

Also, more and more organizations in the public and private sectors are beginning to recognize that Division membership is a valuable barometer for evaluating a CPA firm’s competency and capabilities.

  • The Securities and Exchange Commission has stated that all CPA firms auditing publicly-traded companies should have a peer review and is considering making peer review a requirement.
  • The Rural Electrification Administration has determined that CPA firms auditing REA borrowers will be required to go through this type of peer review and that the report be available to the public.
  • The General Accounting Office is considering a similar requirement for governmental audits.
  • Over the past year, hundreds of individual bankers requested copies of peer review reports for specific CPA firms.

You are encouraged to request a copy of our most recent peer review report. It is the definitive document on our firm’s practice and reaffirms our continued commitment to excellence within the profession.