This chapter referenced a number of Statements on Auditing Standards (SASs), Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARSs), and Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements {SSAEs), since all of the attestation services introduced in the chapter are guided by professional pronouncements. Like many professional standards in public accounting, the issues that drove some of the pronouncements addressed in this chapter were somewhat controversial—in fact, they likely would not have reached the Auditing Standards Board's technical agenda otherwise. For example, SSARS No. 1, "Compilation and Review of Financial Statements," resulted largely because the price of an audit, the only attest service independent accountants were empowered to perform on financial statements, raised the cost of capital beyond the means of many small owner-managed companies. The review services introduced in SSARS No. 1 offered lending institutions the negative assurance they needed, and provided a cost-effective attestation alternative for players in the commercial-capital market.

Required: 

Select any SAS, SSARS, or SSAE referenced at the end of any chapter in this text, and draft a report that identifies the stakeholders and the issue(s) that likely drove the pronouncement. Sources include In Our Opinion, a publication of the Auditing Standards Board; the Board's letter to the profession included in exposure drafts for S/4Ss, SSARSs, or SSAEs; the financial press (e.g., The Wall Street journal. Business Week); the professional literature (e.g.. Journal of Accountancy, The CPA journal, Accounting Today); and magazines published by state societies of CPAs, such as The Michigan CPA.