AICPA to Release New Attestation Standard

The Auditing Standards Board of the AICPA has voted to release Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 23, Amendments to the Attestation Standards for Consistency With the Issuance of AICPA Standards on Quality Management. The new standard amends several other SSAEs to make them consistent with the AICPA’s quality management standards. The most notable revision made by SSAE 23 is to distinguish between “practitioners who are part of the engagement team and those who are not” by replacing the term “other practitioner” with two new terms: (1) “participating practitioner” and (2) “referred-to practitioner.”

SSAE 23 will be “effective for engagements performed in accordance with the SSAEs beginning on or after December 15, 2025.” For more information, see the press release on the AICPA’s Web site.