Controlling audit quality: A responsibility of the profession?;

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Controlling Audit Quality:
A Responsibility of the Profession?
Andrew P. Marincovich
Andrew P. Marincovich & Co.; President, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy
When the chairman asked me to deal with the subject "Controlling Audit Quality: A Responsibility of the Profession" he did not indicate the printed program title would end with a question mark. It would take a brave man to answer the broad question of responsibility of the profession in the negative, but it may be constructive to inquire whether the programs of the profession— either in being or under study—are adequate to discharge this responsibility.
The subject of controlling audit quality involves three inter-related questions: "When," "How," and "By Whom." It seems clear that optimum audit quality requires control measures at each stage of the game, i.e., in the educational preparation, in the examination and accreditation process, and in actual pro­fessional
practice. The questions of "How" and "By Whom" are more complex, and we shall attempt to explore some possibilities.
Initial Controls
State laws have established educational requirements for entrance into the profession—usually a baccalaureate degree with a certain minimum concentration in accounting and related subjects.
In a 1970 California study, Professor Alan R. Cerf made certain comparisons between the legal profession and the accounting profession in which he men­tioned
the importance of the law school and the standard of legal education for admission to the bar. He posed the following questions:
The CPA has made significant strides in developing examinations for admission to the profession. But has he given sufficient attention to the preceding education? Particularly has he related the educational requirements to the entire functions of the CPA?1
In May of 1969 the AICPA council adopted the recommendations of the Beamer Committee. Among the recommendations of the committee were a five year program of professional preparation and elimination of the experience requirement of state boards. Two years after the report, in a presentation at NASBA's annual meeting, Mr. Beamer reported that in eleven states, under varying conditions and amounts of education, it was possible for a candidate to receive the CPA certificate without meeting an experience requirement.
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