I attended a CalCPA San Francisco Chapter SSARS 21 seminar this morning, presented by Mark Dauberman. Mark gave an excellent presentation. SSARS 21 is effective for periods ending on or after December 15, 2015, but it can be implemented in an engagement prior to December 15. I’ll be having more to say about SSARS in future posts as it supersedes all prior SSARS except for certain parts of SSARS 14. As a result, I am also entirely re-writing the discussion about reviews and compilations in Tate’s Excellent Audit Committee Guide. SSARS is very important for CPAs and for all users of financial statements. There will be five types of financial statement related engagements, from most to least advanced: (1) an audit (which is an engagement that is not covered by SSARS 21), (2) a review, (3) a compilation, (4) a preparation, and (5) non-SSARS, non-attest assistance to the client which doesn’t involve financial statement presentation. SSARS 21 is 216 pages, and then there are additional questions and answers, alerts and guidelines.  Some of the provisions present interesting issues crossing between the CPAs who are performing the services and legal counsel involved in providing advice, recommendations and liability risk management.  More blog posts will be following on the specific SSARS provisions.

Dave Tate, Esq. and licensed inactive CPA in California