Why should local CPA firms be interested in international standards on auditing and accounting?
Bunting: Local accounting firms should be interested in international standard setting for a number of reasons. For one thing it is very important that small and medium practices have input into the process of setting international standards because those standards come into the United States and become part of our national standards for private companies. So if I’m in practice and I’m auditing private companies, or I’m doing accounting work, all of the independence rules I live with, all of the auditing standards I use, even the financial reporting standards I use are influenced either directly or indirectly by global standards, and those global standards permeate the United States in a very, very direct way. So if you’re in a small practice, you need to be concerned about what’s going on at the global level because ultimately that is what you’re going to be dealing with. JofA: What will be your focus over the next two years as IFAC’s president? Bunting: Having spent the last two year
