Firms (including sole practitioners) need to participate in a practice-monitoring program if -

• At least one partner wishes to retain his/her AICPA membership
• The firm wishes to hire or retain staff who are AICPA members
• The firm performs engagements under Government Auditing Standards (i.e., “Yellow Book”) issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
• The firm is not a member of the AICPA but performs services requiring a license in its home state

AICPA members active in the practice of public accounting must be associated with a firm that participates in an AICPA practice-monitoring program if the firm performs services within the scope of the peer review standards (essentially audits, reviews, compilations and/or attestation engagements) and issues reports purporting to be in accordance with AICPA professional standards.

A member can meet the requirement if his or her firm is enrolled in the AICPA Peer Review Program (hereinafter referred to as the "Program"), the objective of which is to help CPAs improve the services provided to clients and raise the quality and prestige of the CPA profession.

No. Your firm is not required to enroll if you do not have an accounting or auditing practice.  However, if your firm is engaged to perform an audit, review, compilation or attestation engagement, you should notify the AICPA Peer Review Division or the Peer Review Alliance (a department of the Illinois CPA Society) as soon as you accept such an engagement in order to schedule a peer review.

Firms enrolling in the AICPA Peer Review program (administered by the Peer Review Alliance) will use the AICPA's PRIMA system to enroll. Please visit the AICPA PRIMA information site for further instruction.