Auditing Standards Board: The CPA's Guide



The certified public accountant is in charge of the financial integrity of businesses large and small. Some homes and private individuals use the certified public accountant as a means of ensuring the highest value for their money. The certified public accountant does not necessarily do the investing of the money, but they do track how the money is earned, how it is spent and how much interest it can and does accrue. The certified public accountant can give financial advice to the customers, providing them with ways to make their money work better for them. This intimate connection with the finances of businesses and people can lead the certified public accountant to various ethical questions and potentially illegal actions. The Auditing Standards Board works to provide the certified public accountant the tools avoid these dilemmas and illegal actions.



The Auditing Standards Board was developed to standardize the techniques used to balance the accounting books of businesses and personal finances. Before the construction of the standards board, the accountants were able to change the methods of audits and financial recording to match their needs or to cover up illegal actions. Before the construction of this board, money could easily be siphoned from an account and into the pockets of the accountant, making him wealthy. This board makes it possible to verify if this occurs and provides evidence in the case that this happens. Prior to this board's construction, illegal activities and money laundering was considerably easier, but with proper accounting methods illegal activities are easy to spot and prosecute.

The Auditing Standard's Board is constructed of various Senior Certified Public Accountants who have proven themselves in the business and financial fields. These individuals are often instructors or senior businessmen at their prospective firms. The board is responsible for the construction of rules and procedures that anticipate and work within the current technology. The Audit Standard's Board works to provide ethical answers to difficult questions that a Certified Public Accountant may experience during the ever changing American and World economy and economic changes.

While at one time cash was the biggest way to handle money and face to face was the only way to conduct business, current practices are more credit and online dealings where the associates never meet. The older methods of banking and business dealings were much easier for the certified public accountant to handle. Ten dollars in the older times was truly ten dollars and the money was often local. In today's financial industry, ten dollars is rarely ten dollars cash, but credit, an invisible currency that is conducted completely online. In addition the money is not necessarily local, but can be global and shifting in currency. All this makes for harder accounting practices and therefore had to be addressed by the Auditing Standard's Board.