Posts on documentation requirements from SSARS #19 combined into a page

I have written a series of eight posts on the documentation rules for reviews and comps from SSARS 19 on my other blog, www.attestationupdate.com.  Those posts have been combined into a single ‘page’.  This means you can read all the posts in chronological order, which also means they are in logical order.  Click here for the page.

CPE class on SSARS, written by Jim Ulvog – arriving soon!

I have written an on-line CPE course on SSARS called Compilation and Review: Practice Issues.  It is a 3 hour course covering a variety of practice issues for CPAs providing comps and reviews.  It is written at the overview level. 

Arriving soon at the CCH Learning Center.  When it is available on-line, I’ll give more detail and a link to the course.

I wrote the course in a little more casual voice that you might expect to see in a technical class, but not quite as casual as you see on this blog.  If you enjoy the style of writing you see here, you might enjoy the online CPE.

More detail to follow!

Update:  3-hour online CPE course called Compilation and Review: Practice Issues (Third Edition) is now available at the CCH Learning Center website.  Course discussed in more detail at this post.

Documentation requirements under SSARS 19

I have started a series of posts on my other blog discussing the documentation requirements under SSARS 19 for compilations and reviews.  I won’t be cross-posting those discussions on this blog.  The first item is here.

Update – Discussions of reviews start here.

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

What questions do you have on reviews and compilations?

Greetings to the all the accountants arriving here after doing a search on reviews and compilations!  Hope the posts here are of help to you.

What other questions do you have on SSARS 19? Let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help!

Happy New Year and best wishes as you implement the new stuff in SSARS 19!

SSARS 19 – Sample compilation report for omitting substantially all disclosures

(duplicate of post from Attestation Update  blog)

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

Omission of substantially all disclosures under SSARS No. 19 — Compilation reports will change for organizations with fiscal years ending after December 15, 2010. I have prepared a modified report for departure from GAAP.  Here is the report I will be using after the first of the year for my non-profit clients if any choose to omit all disclosures.  Please feel free to copy, but make sure you modify this based on your firm’s policies.

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SSARS 19 – Sample compilation report for omitting the statement of cash flow

(duplicate of post from Attestation Update  blog)

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

Omission of cash flow statement under SSARS No. 19– Compilation reports will change for organizations with fiscal years ending after December 15, 2010. Here is the modified report I will be using after the first of the year for my non-profit clients if any would choose to omit the statement of cash flow. I doubt that will happen in my client base, but wanted to make this example available to the CPA community.

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What in the world are presumptively mandatory and unconditional requirements? And why does SSARS 19 talk about ‘should’ and ‘must’?

(duplicate of post from Attestation Update  blog)

What in the world are unconditional requirements and presumptively mandatory requirements?

If you provide audits to your clients, you know those terms.  If you don’t deal with audits in your firm, these are two very weird terms in the SSARSs world, newly introduced by SSARS 19. These phrases have been around since SSARS 16, which was effective December 2007.  The impact hadn’t been that large because there was only SSARS 17 and 18.  These two phrases are lots more important since they show up in SSARS 19 quite frequently. (more…)

SSARS 19 report titles and salutations

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

SSARS 19, which goes into effect the end of 2010, specifies titles and addressing for compilation and review reports.

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SSARS 19 incorporates the old SSARS 8 approach

(duplicate of post from Attestation Update  blog)

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

If you prepare compiled financial statements for management use only (which means the reports will not be going to third parties), you will be glad to know the new SSARS 19 document includes the guidance that used to be in SSARS 8.  Let me describe some of the provisions. (more…)

SSARS 19 Compilation reports for NPOs

Compilation reports will change starting December 31, 2010.  Some sample reports follow.

Update – SSARS 19 had been replaced by SSARS 21. All the reports have been revised. You can check out these posts at my other blog, Attestation Update:

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What services do you want from your CPA when they look at your financial statements?

There are three different levels of service that CPAs can provide when we look at your financial statements.  We can provide a compilation, a review, or an audit.  What are the differences?  I have an article here that goes into some detail.  It is an extract from one of my books.

The following post explains the differences visually.