The staff of the American Institute of CPAs, the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board have jointly released guidance on the use of specialists in COVID-19 environment, including some considerations involving the use of specialists when auditing financial statements during the pandemic.
The staff guidance, released Tuesday, aims to help accountants and auditors determine when there might be a need to use the services of a specialist to help them perform specific tasks and other professional activities within their own organizations, as well as when they serve their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The publication discusses some of the ethical considerations for accountants to think about when using a specialist, along with some of the circumstances that indicate a need for a specialist when auditing financial statements.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has forced many accountants and auditors to work remotely, as well as curtailed travel to client locations, particularly those located abroad, when travel restrictions remain in place in many countries.
Michael Rosenberg is president of ai2hr.com.
Maiclaire Bolton Smith holds the position of senior leader, research and content strategy at CoreLogic. In this role, she leads the thought leadership team for the insurance division and works with the enterprise thought leadership team to reveal new insights about climate to the broader property ecosystem.
Prior to CoreLogic, Bolton Smith held previous positions at RMS, Emergency Management British Columbia, the International Seismological Centre and the Geological Survey of Canada. She is a seismologist by trade. She earned her bachelor’s in geophysics from the University of Western Ontario and her master’s in geophysics, specializing in earthquake seismology, from the University of Victoria.
Sameer leads a team dedicated to continuous growth and delivering a portfolio of services to leading insurance companies around the world. Sameer brings to this role particular expertise in the insurance industry, operations excellence, data analytics, and digital transformation. Sameer is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
Sameer has been in leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Genpact for 15 years and was instrumental in setting up the insurance business at Genpact. His holistic approach to serving clients, and his expert grasp of digital technologies and deep domain expertise, have helped him lead large, successful engagements over the years.
Prior to Genpact, Sameer worked for seven years in the insurance business at General Electric, earning a Master Black Belt designation and serving as an operations leader in GE’s insurance vertical focused on claims and underwriting operations.
Sameer earned dual masters’ degrees in management and economics from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India.
The guidance points out that the pandemic could also pose threats to ethical standards, and accountants may find it challenging with the changing laws and regulations pertaining to COVID-19. They may come under pressure to breach the principles of professional competence, due care and professional behavior. “Those who perform audits of financial statements may face additional challenges as well, including considerations related to auditor independence,” said the document. During the pandemic, accountants also might not have access to the usual resources they have at their offices to ensure competent performance, and they may need to turn to outside specialists to help them perform certain tasks or undertake some engagements.
The publication was developed by the staff of the AICPA under the auspices of a working group formed by the IESBA and national ethics standard setters from Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S. The working group was chaired by IESBA deputy chair Richard Fleck with the goal of developing implementation support resources to help accountants effectively apply the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) when facing circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. IESBA and IAASB staff also provided their input. The working group plans to develop more COVID-19 guidance in the weeks ahead.
