（2001）Assurance Service：The Expansion of the CPAs Traditional Services in Local CPA Firms.pdfVIP

The Journal of Applied Business Research Volume 17, Number 1 Assurance Services: The Expansion Of The CPAs’ Traditional Services In Local CPA Firms Ronald O. Reed, University of Northern Colorado Thomas Buchman, University of Colorado-Boulder Abstract The accounting profession has and is undergoing change in the traditional services that they are providing to their clients. This change is due to market and technological factors, such as: co m- petition in the industry, demand for timely and relevant inf ormation for decision-making, de- mand for reliability of that information, and many other factors that are a result of the shift into an information and service oriented society. The profession is trying to change with these co n- ditions. In 1993, the AICPA identified attestation services as the area earmarked for growth. Today, attestation services have been expanded into a new area of services referred to as, assur- ance services. Assurance services are considered the wave of the future, as well as, the lifeboat needed to keep the profession afloat. This study surveys local CPA firms in order to determine if they are changing and moving into the new assurance services area. This study addresses whether local firms are following the pr ojected slow growth trend towards attestation and away from historically financial services. Also, this study addresses the research results of the Special Committee on Assurance Services to determine whether local CPA firms are performing assurance services, whether they are exp e-