Peer Review essentially is a process of verifying how well a CPA accounting and auditing firm meets the requirements of AICPA's statement on Quality Control Standards. Generally, most CPA firms are required to undergo a peer review once every three years. AICPA's statement on quality control standard lays down quality requirements for CPA firms in the following areas:

- Auditor Independence
- Audit Personnel Management
- Integrity and Objectivity
- Acceptance and Continuance of Audit Clients and Engagements
- Audit Engagement Performance
- Firm Quality control and monitoring

Normally, a peer review is conducted by another CPA firm which is eligible to conduct such review. The result of a peer review is a report which might be unmodified, modified or adverse. My experience with peer reviews is to take a risk based approach. As a peer reviewer, I would try and gather reasonable assurance that the quality control procedures and policies are being complied with by a CPA firm. One important thing, the peer review is not to knit-pick faults in the firm beeing reviewed. There would always be some weaknesses in system and quality processes which need improvement.

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