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SUMMARY
Attestation services, provisions of assurance on assertions other than those in historical financial statements, represent a recently formalized area of accounting practice. This exploratory study surveys AICPA professionals in public accounting to identify the nature and extent of attestation services currently being provided and expected to be provided in the future. It also investigates the association of office/firm characteristics with performing these services.
The study finds the attestation services being performed are concentrated in areas addressed by specific professional standards. The majority of assertions being attested to are financial in nature, and the most common basis for assurance is agreed-upon procedures. Logistic regression findings suggest practices with greater auditing expertise and practices which are part of larger firms are more likely to be involved in performing attest services. The respondents expect attestation services to continue expanding as a percentage of their offices' practices, particularly into non-traditional attest areas.
Key Words: Attestation practices, Attestation standards, Scope of CPA services, Assurance
Data Availability: Data used in this study are available upon request.
The accounting profession has long been the primary server of the public's need for reliable information concerning companies' financial performance and condition. The profession has capably filled this role through performing audits of companies' financial statements in accordance with the ten generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS). In recent years, significant changes have occurred in the information environment, many of which are being driven by the dramatic advances in information technologies. A major result of these changes is that information about companies is now available from many different sources and in many different forms. Leaders in the accounting profession are of the opinion that investors and other external constituents are increasingly demanding that the profession extend its provisions of assurance to include these new sources and forms of information.l The profession has responded to this perceived demand and has moved quickly to formulate general and specific standards of practice that go beyond those established for traditional historical financial statements to serve as guidance for CPAs in performing these new attest services. To date, though, no investigation into the nature and extent of the demand for and supply of attestation services has been conducted. This study addresses these important issues.
Researchers in auditing (Kinney...