The overall purpose of this study was to examine how Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) perceive the potential use of assurance services to assess quality in accounting education programs. Survey questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 250 CPAs in the north central Texas area. The questionnaire was designed to obtain demographic information and information relating to the respondents' perceptions of quality assessment of accounting education programs. An analysis of the results of this study suggest the following: CPAs consider (1) certain established criteria, such as SAT scores and faculty-to-student ratios, as effective measures for assessing quality attributes in accounting education programs and (2) traditional measures currently used for quality assessment in accounting education programs as only moderately effective by CPAs. CPAs are apparently seeking increased involvement with accounting education quality assessment and formulation of educational standards. They view the potential application of assurance services to accounting education quality as a way to offer a wider range of services to the public. CPAs perceive assurance services as a type of quality assessment that can be used to complement, but not replace, some of the more effective traditional methods, and as a way of enhancing the quality assessment process for accounting education.

Purpose: Our purpose is to investigate if the documentation of an internalaudit department at banks reflects a shift towards more consultingactivities, and how this potential change in the internal audit doc-umentation can be explained. Background: Previous research indicates that internal audit has developed fromits traditional assurance activities to include more consulting ac-tivities such as risk management assistance and corporate govern-ance support. Some researches argue that this development canhave a negative impact on internal auditor independence. Howev-er, there is a lack of research in this area using documentation andcontent analysis of internal audit reports. Method: In this study, we have done qualitative content analysis of internaldocuments collected from the period 2004-2013. These docu-ments are analyzed using a coding scheme based on previous re-search. Conclusion: By qualitatively analysing the activities reported we find that thedocumentation reflects a shift, over time, towards more activitiesthat we classified as consulting. We argue that this can mainly beexplained by coercive and normative isomorphism; for example,regulatory pressures and influences from the Institute of InternalAuditors. We also argue that internal auditing might benefit froma more consistent view of the role.

美國會計師協會（AICPA）與加拿大會計師協會（CICA）在1998年推出WebTrust網站安全認證服務，以提供類似於財務報表簽證的方式，對網站之服務提供認證。WebTrust希望透過會計師在財務認證上之品牌聲譽及獨立性，並藉由提供較廣泛、較深度之服務內容，以取得消費者的青睞。本研究係探討國內網站認證市場之需求面，主要之研究發現為消費者對於網站認證標章有一定程度的了解，並認為WebTrust的服務內容相當重要。在網站認證服務競爭優勢之評估方面，會計師具有公信力及客觀之優勢。相較於其他網站認證機構而言，消費者認為會計師較適合提供隱私性服務。此外，本研究發現消費者對於網站認證標章有過度的期待，可能因而產生期望落差。相關業者在提供網站認證服務時，可能會產生潛在之訴訟風險，宜妥為管理及因應。 / The WebTrust assurance service was created through a joint effort between the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) in 1998. WebTrust uses an approach similar to the attestation of financial statements and provides assurance services to Web hosts. Utilizing the CPAs’ reputations and independence and more complete coverage of its assurance services, WebTrust aims to establish its presence in the Web assurance market. This study examines the demand side of Web assurance services. Our results show that consumers have fundamental understanding of Web assurance seals and recognize the importance of Web assurance services as provided by WebTrust. In addition, CPAs have advantage in credibility and objectivity over others Web assurance providers, and are more suitable in providing privacy assurance. It’s worthy noting, however, that there is an expectation gap between consumers and Web assurance providers. When offering Web assurance services, a provider may face the potential risk of lawsuit and should address the issue properly.