Doing It Better
Bill Balhoff Elected Chairman of AICPA
AICPA’s New “Center for Plain English Accounting” has Alabama Roots Dr. Tom Ratcliffe will be Technical Director
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illiam E. Balhoff is the new chairman of the board of directors of the American Institute of CPAs, the world’s largest member organization representing the accounting profession. In his acceptance speech, Balhoff recalled his first boss as a CPA, Alexander Postlethwaite, who instilled the idea that superior service to clients should take precedence over profits or firm growth. As a legacy of that focus on quality and integrity, Balhoff announced the creation of the AICPA Center William Balhoff for Plain English Accounting, a one-stop, technical resource for small to midsize firms looking to cut through complexity and provide the best possible accounting and auditing services for clients. “The quality of our work and our people are the two most important factors in establishing and maintaining our profession’s reputation,” said Balhoff, CPA, CGMA, CFF, managing director and CEO of Postlethwaite & Netterville in Baton Rouge, La. “CPAs take pride in doing the right thing, the right way. Clients and employers experience that quality and respond to it.”
Center for Plain English Accounting What services will the center provide? The AICPA Center for Plain English Accounting (CPEA) will provide timely and detailed accounting and assurance (A&A) guidance to Private Companies Practice Section firm members who subscribe to CPEA. Many of the largest accounting firms have centralized capabilities that provide engagement teams with A&A guidance and handle A&A inquiries. The CPEA will fill a similar role as a “national office” for smaller firms. In most instances, these services will be free for PCPS subscribers; however, answers to highly complex questions that require extensive research may require a fee. How is this different from what the AICPA currently provides? The AICPA offers toolkits, publications and access to a member service hotline that can provide oral answers to a range of questions about professional issues. While any member will still be able to obtain these valuable services from the AICPA, the CPEA will be a central, one-stop resource center to help PCPS subscribers understand and apply A&A standards. CPEA will offer monthly reports, written in plain English, on topical and relevant A&A matters. This monthly guidance will be supplemented by a series of eight webcasts, additional reports addressing new topics on a timely basis, as well as the ability to submit written inquires and receive The Alabama CPA MAGAZINE
written technical responses. All of this and more will come from staffers who are recognized experts in accounting, compilation, review audit, attestation and quality control issues and who understand PCPS member firms and the clients they serve. Who will run the center? The technical director of CPEA will be Dr. Tom Ratcliffe, CPA, a highly respected and nationally-known authority on A&A. The CPEA will also include Bob Durak, currently the AICPA’s director of private company financial reporting, along with two highly qualified technical senior managers, all of whom have experience in serving and working with PCPS. Also involved with CPEA are Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, the AICPA’s vice president for firm services and global alliances, and Chuck Landes, CPA, the AICPA’s vice president for professional standards and services. How did the center come about? The creation of CPEA came about as a result of merging
the talents and resources of Plain-English Accounting, LLC with the AICPA. Due to the complexity of A&A practices in PCPS member firms, the AICPA is committed to providing smaller firms with the tools, guidance and resources they need to serve their clients in a high quality manner. The CPEA was created for that exact purpose. Who is eligible to join CPEA? CPA firms who are members of the AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS). The center is designed for small to midsize firms, since the largest firms may have these capabilities themselves. Firms who are already subscribers to Dr. Ratcliffe’s Plain-English Accounting, LLC will automatically be moved over to CPEA regardless of whether or not they are PCPS members. When will the center launch? CPEA will be available to PCPS member firms who are not already subscribers to Plain-English Accounting, LLC on November 1. A more formal rollout of CPEA will occur after April 15, 2014.
About Dr. Tom Ratcliffe:
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he Center for Plain English Accounting is an extension of work that Dr. Thomas A. Ratcliffe, CPA, director emeritus of the School of Accountancy at Troy University, past chair of the Alabama Society and nationally-known accounting and auditing thought leader, writer and advisor has been doing for most of his career. Ratcliffe served as a member of the Auditing Standards Board (ASB), the AICPA senior technical committee responsible for developing auditing, attestation, and quality control standards, during the development of the clarified and converged auditing and quality control standards. During his tenure with the ASB, he also served as a member of the Audit Issues Task Force. Prior to joining the ASB, Ratcliffe served as chair and as a member of the AICPA Accounting and Review Services Committee, and he served on the AICPA Council. He also is the primary contributing author to the AICPA Guide Tom Ratcliff for Compilation and Review Engagements. He served as a founding member of the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee. In addition to many other service roles, he still serves as a member of the auditing panel for The Journal of Accountancy. In addition, Ratcliffe serves as the accounting and auditing technical advisor to six different associations of CPA firms. For 25 years, he authored the Bisk Education monthly Accounting and Auditing Report, the widely-used monthly update of accounting and auditing issues that is distributed nationally to CPAs in public practice and industry. Also, he is a speaker through webbased programs, including those offered through his Plain-English Accounting membership program. Ratcliffe earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama. He has published more than 100 technical works in accounting and auditing, including several books and other documents that are widely-utilized in practice. In 2004, based on both the quality and the quantity of his publications, he was recognized as one of the most prolific authors in the accounting profession. Ratcliffe has received numerous research and teaching awards throughout his career, including the Alabama Society of CPAs’ Outstanding Professional Educator award. After winning that award for seven consecutive years, the Alabama Society renamed the award in his honor. In 2013, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Society’s highest recognition. In addition to his advisory and technical consulting roles with various firm associations, Ratcliffe serves as senior accounting and auditing technical advisor for Warren Averett, LLC. The combination of his experiences as a practitioner, and as an educator, enables him to explain complex practical issues in a manner that is easily understood by fellow practitioners. 5