Chapter 2 Organization and Structure of the Auditing Profession(17)

approximately 330,000 members, all of whom are required to be CPAs, are in public practice either with CPA firms or as sole practitioners. (The rest are in business and industry,

government, or education, or are retired.) The AICPA provides a broad range of services to members, including continuing professional education, technical accounting and auditing assistance, auditing standard setting, self-regulation of the profession, and assistance in managing an accounting practice.

Ultimate authority over the AICPA is vested in its Council. Its 23-member Board of Directors, which includes three non-Institute members who represent the public, administers resources and sets policy. Pronouncements in the form of technical and ethical standards are issued by senior technical committees composed of Institute members in public practice and, to some extent, in industry, government, and academe. Those committees and the pronouncements they issue are shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Pronouncements Issued by AICPA Senior Technical Committees Senior Technical

Committee

Accounting and

Review Services

Committee Public Statements Issued or Reviewed Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services, and Interpretations Statements on Standards for Attestation

Engagements aa