AICPA Board Updates Peer Review Standards
The AICPA Peer Review Board recently approved a standards update intended to align peer review standards more closely with new quality management (QM) standards and to clarify and enhance current technical guidance.
Peer Review Standards Update (PRSU) No. 2, Reviewing a Firm's System of Quality Management and Omnibus Technical Enhancements, is expected to be published later this month. An exposure draft was approved in November 2023.
Changes issued in PRSU No. 2 include:
- Peer review terminology and phrasing revisions to conform with the new QM standards.
- Requirements and related application and other explanatory material paragraphs were modified, where appropriate, to address risk-based considerations resulting from the requirements of the QM standards.
- Technical changes intended to meet the current needs of the program by clarifying or expanding the existing requirements and application and other explanatory material were made to continue the board’s effort to provide standards that are easy to read, understand and apply.
- Minor error corrections.
The omnibus technical enhancements in PRSU No. 2 are effective for peer reviews beginning on or after Dec. 1. QM-related revisions in PRSU No. 2 are effective for peer reviews with years ending on or after Dec. 31, 2025.
Firms have until Dec. 15, 2025, to establish a QM system aligned with AICPA standards.
In addition to issuing the standards update, the board also established that a retiring partner is permitted to continue serving as a team member on peer reviews for a period of 36 months.