The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) issued guidelines for CPAs who perform attestation and compliance reporting services to verify if a title and settlement professional complies with the American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) Best Practices Framework. For more than a year, the AICPA, ALTA and HA&W’s ComplianceSuccess Program have partnered to develop reporting guidelines to provide the industry independent and objective third-party standards for CPAs reporting on the framework.
A self-assessment and Best Practices certification package is available that can be completed by any third party, but is not backed by professional standards. Since early 2014, the three groups have collaborated to develop reporting standards that must be followed by CPAs performing compliance testing and reporting to give assurance on compliance with the Best Practices, including reports with varying levels of assurance depending on the lender’s risk management policies.
“We are pleased to see the CPA community providing professional standards that can be relied upon by mortgage lenders,” FNTG President of National Agency Operations Erika Meinhardt said. “By engaging a CPA directly, agents can ensure independence of the assessment relationship and process, which is important to many lenders.”
The guidance released by the AICPA provided details of the standards that must be followed by CPAs performing work in these areas. The guidance addressed “the types of engagements a practitioner may perform, the applicability to an attest engagement, the sustainability of criteria, the nature of examination or review procedures and the form and content of the report.”
“The AICPA’s guidance will provide a uniform reporting framework for the CPA community to ensure that all CPAs perform ALTA Best Practices compliance testing and reporting in the same manner and in accordance with AICPA professional standards,” said Kim McConkey, partner-in-charge of HA&W’s ComplianceSuccess Program.
“AICPA has taken an important step in developing guidance in support of ALTA’s Best Practices,” First American Title Insurance Co. Executive Vice President John Hollenbeck said. “This guidance benefits title agencies by encouraging the development of a broader market for CPA examination or review engagements.”