What is Peer Review?

Peer review sets CPAs apart from other professions and shows their dedication to upholding the standards of the profession.

The South Carolina Board of Accountancy (SC BOA) requires firms that perform audits, reviews, compilations and/or attest service engagements to be enrolled in a peer review program.

The SC BOA has adopted the model used by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Firms that perform attest services are required to undergo a peer review every three years.

A peer review is a periodic external review of a firm’s quality control system in accounting and auditing and is also known as the AICPA’s practice monitoring program.  AICPA members and SC firms engaged in the practice of public accounting are required to practice in a firm that is enrolled in an approved practice-monitoring program such as the Peer Review Program.

The program is designed to be educational for firms in public accounting to further enhance the quality in their performance of accounting and auditing work.  The program also allows for firms to communicate with their fellow peers on the objectives of the accounting profession.

Mandatory Peer Review

Regulation 1-09. Peer Review of the Board of Accountancy requires, as a condition of firm registration and/or renewal (including those firms registered in other jurisdictions operating in this state under practice privilege), a licensed firm providing any of the following services to the public shall enroll in a qualified peer review program:

  1. Audits;
  2. Reviews of financial statement;
  3. Compilations of financial statements;
  4. Examinations of prospective financial statements;
  5. Compilations of prospective financial statements;
  6. Agreed-upon procedures of prospective financial statements;
  7. Examinations of written assertions;
  8. and Agreed-upon procedures of written assertions.

Peer Review Administration

Effective Aug. 1, 2016, the SCACPA Board of Directors has outsourced the administration of the peer review program for SC firms to the Peer Review Alliance.

Contact Information

If you have questions regarding enrollment or scheduling, please contact:

If you have questions regarding technical issues, please contact:

You may also contact:

For more information regarding the Peer Review Program, please visit the Peer Review Alliance website at www.icpas.org/advocacy/peer-review.