Implementing the new standard on quality management (QM) by the Dec. 15, 2025, deadline may seem daunting, but the AICPA has developed resources and tools to get started, including a QM checklist and a practice aid.
The QM checklist outlines the steps needed to implement the new standard. The Crosswalk Between SMQS 1 and SQCS 8 describes the changes in requirements. The audit and accounting practice aid, Establishing and Maintaining a System of Quality Management for a CPA Firm's Accounting and Auditing Practice, includes a helpful overview of the standard.
The AICPA Auditing Standards
Board (ASB) issued its new standard on QM, Statements on Quality Management Standards (SQMS) No. 1, A Firm's System of Quality Management, in June 2022. SQMS No. 1 introduces a risk-based approach that provides a scalable methodology to quality for all firms, from sole practitioners to large multinational firms.
The introduction of a risk-based approach compels each firm to tailor its system of quality management to its particular circumstances by performing a risk assessment and to implement a customized system of quality management by the effective date of Dec. 15, 2025. The standard also requires an evaluation of the QM system to be performed within one year following Dec. 15, 2025. The effective date was set to allow firms ample time to design and implement a more tailored system of QM in compliance with the new standard. Now that date is fast approaching.