The American Institute of CPAs' professional ethics division has issued a proposal that would outline the independence requirements of CPA firm networks and associations.It would extend the independence requirements to any entity that a network firm either controls, is controlled by, or with which it is under common control. Network firms would be independent of all the other network firms' audit and review clients for which a general-use audit or review report is issued. For all other attest clients, a network firm would need to consider any threats that the firm has reason to believe might be created by other network firms' relationships with clients.
If only a subset of firms in an association share one or more characteristics of a network firm, such as a common brand name, only that subset would be considered a network.
