Editorial Staff

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
Colleen Katz

Managing Editor
Elizabeth Uva

Senior Editors
Laura Baron,
Katharine W. Coveleski,
Peter D. Fleming,
Michael Hayes,
Robert Tie

Senior Assistant Editor
Sarah Cobb

Assistant Editor
Vincent Nolan

Contributing Editors
Anita Dennis, Lesli S. Laffie
Joan Mancuso,
Barbara J. Shildneck,
Stanley Zarowin

Production Director
Peter M. Tuohy 

Art Director
Jeryl A. Costello

Production Manager
Gene Cioffi

Senior Manager—
Production Services—
Publishing Technology
Robert DiCorcia

Production Editor
D. Hillel Lofaso

Senior Production Associates
Valrie Mason, Ingrid Medina

Art Assistant
Patricia L. Arrington

Associate Publisher
Thomas R. Greve

Advertising Team Manager
Karin DeMarco

Advertising Representatives
Joseph Torres, Kurt Weber

Advertising Coordinator
John Weinberg

Editorial Offices
201-938-3292
e-mail: joaed@aicpa.org

Advertising Office
201-938-3767

Classified Ads
Russell Johns Associates, Inc.
1-800-237-9851
e-mail: joa@rja-ads.com

Highlights

ETHICS PROPOSAL PUT TO VOTE
In August the Institute sent members a ballot for voting on two proposals to amend the Institute’s bylaws as requested by the professional ethics executive committee (PEEC). The proposals, which aim to improve the timeliness, efficiency and transparency of the Institute’s disciplinary process, cannot take effect unless approved by at least two-thirds of the members voting.

Currently the Institute has the power to automatically discipline members as a result of certain activities by a state board of accountancy. The first of the two proposals would expand that automatic disciplinary power to include all discipline methods set out by the state boards of accountancy and any government agency or certain other organizations the PEEC and the AICPA board of directors approve, such as the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. At the same time, members would be able to appeal to the AICPA joint trial board to prevent the automatic provisions from being applied. The other proposal on the ballot would expand the transparency of the disciplinary process by permitting the PEEC, in specific situations, to disclose more information about matters it had investigated, including revealing to a complainant the results of an investigation he or she had requested.

Additional details are available at www.aicpa.org/enforcement, www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpaltr/jun2003/council.htm, www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpaltr/jul2003/member.htm and www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/aug2003/snyder.htm.

Although all members should have gotten their ballots in the mail by now, any who have not should call 888-637-3277 or, if they prefer, can download the ballot materials from the AICPA Web site, www.aicpa.org/enforcement. The marked and signed ballots must be received for tabulation no later than October 18.

SEC OFFERS FRESH VIEW ON SETTING ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
A study released in July by the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant and Office of Economic Analysis recommended that accounting standards be developed using a principles-based, “objectives-oriented” approach, meaning that the standards would establish the objectives and accounting model for classes of transactions and would contain a framework for their implementation. The commission staff said standards developed on the basis of principles alone are difficult to enforce because they don’t give preparers or auditors enough guidance, while rules-based standards invite circumvention of their intent. Adoption of an objectives-based method, the study concluded, would foster more meaningful and informative financial reporting and would hold corporate management and auditors responsible for ensuring such reporting fully complies with a standard’s objectives. To provide some sense of the scope of this undertaking, the study defines and lists the current status of key steps—some of which are under way—involved in U.S. standard setters’ move to an objectives-oriented approach. The commission performed the research in keeping with section 108(d) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which addresses accounting standards. The study is available at www.sec.gov/news/studies/principlesbasedstand.htm.

Editorial Advisers

Kenneth D. Askelson, James Bean, Phyllis Bernstein, John C. Boma, Jacob R. Brandzel, Steven J. Brown, Jolene C. Brucks, Thomas F. Burrage, Linda Burt, J. Gregory Bushong, R. Patrick Cargill, Benson J. Chapman, Rosemarie T. Dunn, Thomas Emmerling, Elizabeth Fender, Robert J. Freeman, John S. Gibbons, Alan Glazer, Randi K. Grant, Patrick T. Hanratty, DeAnn Hill, James E. Hunton, Frank J. Kopczynski, Jeffrey B. Kraut, Dennis B. Kremer, William F. Laurie, Alan Levin, John Lewison, Joseph P. Liotta, Mano Mahadeva, Benjamin F. Mathews, David McIntee, Anita Meola, Debra Mitchell, Roger H. Molvar, Brenda Morris, Craig Murray, Lyne P. Noella, Edward T. Odmark, Stanley Person, Mary P. Ricciardello, Mark L. Richardson, Marshall B. Romney, Peggy Scott, Carolyn Sechler, Gary Shamis, Ivan J. Sotomayor, Alan Steiger, Paul C. Sullivan, Gary R. Trugman, Robert Willens, Mark A. Yahoudy