Highlights of Board of Directors' July Meeting

Among other actions at its meeting on July 13-14, the AICPA Board of Directors:

* Discussed the draft Report and Recommendations of the Public Oversight Board's Panel on Audit Effectiveness and expressed concern for many of the panel's conclusions, while noting the need to keep the profession forward-looking, dynamic, able to react quickly to marketplace issues, and able to serve the public interest by relying on professional judgment and effective self-regulation.

* Discussed the proposed SEC Rule on Auditor Independence and concluded that, while the proposed modernization of rules relating to financial interests and family relationships were needed and overdue, the proposed restrictions on non-audit services were too far-reaching and not in the public interest. The board further concluded that the AICPA should attempt to prevent adoption of the rule as exposed (see page 1).

* Heard a presentation on a Total Value Creation project, which would provide Web-based, XBRL-enabled financial reporting that is tied to events and assumptions that are future-oriented. TVC would lead to continuous, real-time valuation that could be used to measure an organization's success.

* Discussed a proposal from the Assurance Services Team to pursue a joint venture to enhance the penetration of the SysTrust service in the marketplace.

* Was updated on developments related to the proposed new global professional business designation initiative.

* Heard that an independent research effort found that the 150-hour rule was not a barrier to students' decisions to pursue accounting degrees and careers in the profession. Students indicated that they considered graduate school mandatory but did not place the value on accounting education that they did on other tracks.

* Received a report on AICPA Foundation activities.

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