PREPROPOSAL STATEMENT OF INQUIRY
Subject of Possible Rule Making: WAC 4-25-622 Independence.
Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 18.04.055(2).
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The board has serious concerns with the effectiveness of the current regulations governing CPA independence and the recent nationwide decline in confidence with CPAs' ethical standards. The board's goal is to promote the dependability of information used for guidance in financial transactions or for accounting for or assessing the status or performance of commercial and noncommercial enterprises and protect the public interest by requiring that persons who hold themselves out as licensed CPAs or certificateholders conduct themselves in a competent, ethical, and professional manner.
Other Federal and State Agencies that Regulate this Subject and the Process Coordinating the Rule with These Agencies: United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division. The board will solicit comment from these regulatory bodies.
Process for Developing New Rule: Agency study.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by writing to Dana M. McInturff, Executive Director, Washington State Board of Accountancy, P.O. Box 9131, Olympia, WA 98507-9131, fax (360) 664-9190, e-mail danam@cpaboard.wa.gov.
June 3, 2003
Dana M. McInturff, CPA, CFE
Executive Director