Discussion of "Opportunities for assurance services in the 21st century: A progress report of the Special Committee on Assurance Services:;

              Discussion of "Opportunities for Assurance Services in the 21st Century: A Progress Report of the Special Committee on Assurance Services"
Katherine Schipper
University of Chicago
INTRODUCTION
Conventionally, a discussant's task is to comment on a research paper which typically contains a statement of the research question and its importance, a design for answering that question, a description of methods used and approaches taken, and a presentation and interpretation of results. The progress report which I have been asked to discuss does not fit this pattern; instead of being a research paper, it is a description of an ongoing process or a set of as-yet uncompleted activities. Therefore, a conventional discussion would not be appropriate, and my discussion will take the unorthodox approach of commenting on the processes and preliminary recommendations of the AICPA Special Committee on Assurance Services (the Special Committee) as they are laid out in Richard Lea's paper.
As I interpret the assignment of the Special Committee, it is to provide answers to two questions:
(1) What new lines of business should CPA firms enter?
(2) What threats and opportunities are likely to be encountered in doing so?
It is noteworthy that these questions are being addressed at the level of the accounting profession—it is not easy to imagine similar activities occurring in most industries. Would we, for example, expect to see the major U.S. airlines or the major U.S. auto manufacturers jointly sponsoring research into how they could extend their current lines of business? Attempting to carry out this inquiry at the level of the profession (as opposed to the level of the individual firm) clearly has advantages and disadvantages, which are commented on in Professor Lea's report and which I will address in section 3 of this discussion. Sections 1 and 2 contain my comments on the Special Committee's proposals for answering the two questions posed in this paragraph as those proposals are reported in Professor Lea's paper.
WHAT NEW LINES OF BUSINESS SHOULD CPA'S ENTER? What is the appropriate definition of "assurance services"?
In answer to the first question—what new lines of business should CPA firms enter—it would appear that the Special Committee will recommend that CPA firms become providers of "assurance services." Under the proposed definition provided by Professor Lea in section I of his report, "Assurance services are independent professional services that improve the quality of information or its context for decision-makers." In the text discussion accompanying table 1 in his report, however, Professor Lea broadens this definition to include "any services that assist information users in improving the quality of their decision-making information, including their decision model." Relative to the first definition, the second drops the notion of professionalism/independence and adds the idea of improving users' decision models.
Both definitions of assurance services provided in Professor Lea's report are expansive relative to that provided by a group whose 1993 conference was the impetus for the formation of the
37