AICPA Issues Update on State Legislative Proposals

State legislative initiatives for post-Enron accounting and audit reforms are proliferating and proceeding at rates comparable to federal initiatives. California held a hearing [1] on May 6, 2002 on a controversial amendment to the state's peer review program. In addition, several bills were introduced over the past month in Pennsylvania, including one that would alter both CPAs' and non-CPAs' responsibility for reporting wrongdoing discovered during employment. As a service to its members, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has worked with the state societies and its Regulatory Affairs division to compile an update of the Enron-related legislative proposals now under consideration at the state level.

AICPA's summary is broken down into legislation that affects the profession and other Enron-related legislative proposals. As a quick check to see if there is legislation you should be monitoring, following is a listing of the states included in the summary:

• States that have introduced legislation that affects the profession: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

• States that have introduced other Enron-related legislative proposals: Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

Download [2] a copy of AICPA's update on state legislative activity.

-Rosemary Schlank