Approved in August by the AICPA's Accounting and Review Services Committee, SSARS No. 21 creates a line between preparation services and compilation and review services. The basic standard for accountants who prepare and submit financial statements to clients is SSARS No. 1, issued in 1978. The standards are effective for financial statements for periods ending on or after Dec. 15, 2015.

According to the committee's chair Michael L. Brand, the advent of electronic devices and communications, and particularly cloud applications, has blurred lines in the accounting office. He said that means "where the client and CPA are working on the accounting together and sometimes in real time, it's impossible to segregate who prepared the financial statements, let alone whether the CPA submitted financial statements."

The new standard eliminates the need for those decision by making the compilation literature apply when the accountant is engaged to perform a compilation service."

Besides helping firms asked by smaller clients to prepare financial statements when that client does not need a compilation or review report, SSARS No. 21 includes a new preparation standard. Section 70 also does not require an accountant's name or report to be associated with the financial statements. But it also does not prohibit a CPA from doing so, according to AICPA Senior Technical Manager Michael Glynn.

"Therefore, to ensure that users are not misled by thinking that an accountant is providing any assurance on the financial statements, the standard requires a legend on each page of the financial statements indicating, at a minimum, that 'no assurance is provided' on the financial statements," says Glynn