The AICPA website lists hundreds of potential assurance services for CPAs to offer.  These include productivity improvement, cost analysis, benchmarking, internal auditing quality assurance, CPA WebTrust for electronic commerce, and SysTrust.  Several of the proposed assurance services are in the information technology management/security category.  These include information systems security reviews, reviews of computer disks for unauthorized software, and audits of computerized controls.  Classroom discussion might address the particular skills that CPAs would need for each of the proposed assurance service areas.  Skepticism and integrity, for example, are two characteristics typically associated with public accountants.

 

It is interesting to learn which of the existing or proposed assurance services recommended by the AICPA will actually be offered by a given public accounting organization.  Many of the larger firms already offer at least some of these services, and the largest accounting firms today derive a large portion of their revenues from professional services other than auditing and tax consulting.  But the industry shake-up in 2002 may also prompt some accounting firms to scale back services and focus on only their auditing business.

 

The AICPA offers one-day training classes for those interested in certifying websites.  Many auditors take advantage of this training but it is unclear at this point what the market for website verification services will be. So far, there have not been many adopters of WebTrust.