november2021 - 22

AICPA NEWS
AICPA News is a round-up of recent
announcements from the institute.
AICPA Releases New
FAQ for Employee
Benefit Plan Auditors
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has issued a new resource
for auditors of ERISA plan financial statements. The Employee Benefit
Plans Industry FAQ with Illustrative Auditor's Reports for Initial Year of
Implementation of SAS No. 136, as Amended, provides nonauthoritative
guidance on auditor's reports for the initial implementation year
of AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 136 -- Forming
an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee
Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA, as amended.
■ Because ERISA requires the presentation of certain comparative
financial statements, this resource provides illustrations and options
for reporting during the implementation year of the EBP SAS. Be
sure to visit the AICPA's Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center
(https://tinyurl.com/4xu7e4fr) to access more EBP audit resources. ■
AICPA Honors Bel Needles with
Gold Medal of Distinction
The AICPA recently announced Belverd (Bel) Needles, CPA, CGMA,
Ph.D., as the recipient of the 2021 AICPA Gold Medal Award of
Distinction.
The Gold Medal is the highest honor granted by the AICPA. Since
1944, it has been bestowed upon CPAs whose influence on the
accounting profession has been especially notable.
Needles has spent more than 40 years at DePaul University,
where he was one of the founding Directors of the School of
Accountancy and currently serves as EY Distinguished Professor
of Accountancy. He was the key driver of adding Management
Information Systems (MIS) to the Accountancy curriculum and the
establishment of the School of Accountancy & MIS and developed
the first combined 150-hour undergraduate and graduate program
in Illinois in response to the new CPA requirement.
Needles spent more than three decades volunteering within
the profession and AICPA serving on a variety of task forces and
committees including chair of the AICPA's Accounting Education
Executive Committee (1994-96). He is also a long-standing member
of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS).
He received many career awards including AICPA's Distinguished
Achievement in Accounting Education Award and upon retiring, he
received the Via Sapientiae Award from DePaul University, the highest
award for service to the university.
22 NOVEMBER 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
AICPA ISSUES NEW STANDARD ON
AUDITOR'S RISK ASSESSMENT
The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB)
has issued Statement on Auditing Standards
(SAS) No. 145, Understanding the Entity and
Its Environment and Assessing the Risks of
Material Misstatement, to supersede SAS No.
122, as amended, section 315 of the same
title, and to amend various AU-C sections in
AICPA Professional Standards.
SAS No. 145 addresses the auditor's
responsibility to identify and assess the
risks of material misstatement in the financial
statements. The SAS enhances the requirements
and guidance on identifying and
assessing the risks of material misstatement,
in particular the areas of understanding the
entity's system of internal control and assessing
control risk. The SAS revises the definition
of significant risk, includes new guidance on
maintaining professional skepticism, and
includes a new " stand-back " requirement
intended to drive an evaluation of the completeness
of the identification of significant
classes of transactions, account balances,
and disclosures by the auditor. The SAS also
includes extensive guidance regarding the
use of information technology (IT) and the
consideration of IT general controls.
On Nov. 16 from 1:00 - 2:00 PM EST the
AICPA will be hosting a webcast (https://
tinyurl.com/czraz553) to help practitioners
prepare for the new risk assessment standard.
Attendees will learn how to determine
their responsibility to identify and assess
the risks of material misstatement in the
financial statements; apply the new concepts
in SAS No. 145 as they begin to plan and
perform audits and apply the enhanced or
new requirements or guidance in SAS No.
145. The webcast is free of charge to AICPA
members. ■
AICPA SUPPORTS PROVISIONS OF RECONCILIATION,
SUBMITS RECOMMENDATIONS
The AICPA has submitted comments to the
Congressional tax-writing committees' leadership
on several tax provisions. The AICPA
supports several tax provisions in the reconciliation
bill, expresses concern with others, and
has provided comments and suggestions for
improvement:
AICPA Supported Provisions in the House
AICPA Concerns with Certain Tax Provisions
in the House Reconciliation Legislation:
■ IRC Section 199A - Deduction for Qualified
Business Income
■ IRC Section 461(l) - Excess Business Losses
■ IRC Section 162(m) - Limitation on Deduction
of Excess Employee Remuneration
Reconciliation Legislation:
■ Individual Tax Provisions
■ Child Tax Credit Modifications
■ Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Changes
■ Employer-Provided Dependent Care Assistance
Exclusion
■ Temporary Rule to Allow Certain S Corporations
to Reorganize as Partnerships Tax-Free
■ Deferral of IRC Section 174 Amortization
■ International Tax Provisions
■ Restoration of Former IRC Section 958(b)(4)
Deduction of Foreign Source Portion of Dividends
Limited to Controlled Foreign Corporations
■Modification to Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax
■ GILTI Changes to Carryforward Losses
■Modifications to Foreign Tax Credits
■ Limiting Section 78 Gross-up to IRC Section
960(a) and (d) Taxes
■ Employee Benefits Tax Provisions
■ Contribution Limit for Individual Retirement
Plans of High-Income Taxpayers with Large
Account Balances
■ Tax Treatment of Rollovers to Roth IRAs and
Accounts
■ Prohibition on Certain IRA Investments
■ Statute of Limitations with Respect to IRA
Noncompliance
■ Trust and Estate Tax Provisions
■ Valuation Concerns
■ Grantor Trusts
■ Estates
■Modification to Treatment of Certain Losses
under IRC Section 165(g)
■ Limitation on Certain Special Rules for IRC
Section 1202 Gains
■Modification of Procedural Requirements
Relating to Assessment of Penalties
https://www.tinyurl.com/czraz553 https://www.tinyurl.com/czraz553 https://www.tinyurl.com/4xu7e4fr http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
november2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of november2021
