AICPA SQMS No.1
Statement on Quality Management Standards No. 1 is the AICPA standard that tells a CPA firm how to run a firm-wide system of quality management for its accounting and auditing practice.
It replaced the older quality control standard (SQCS No. 8) and moves firms from a fixed checklist of policies to a risk-based model: the firm sets quality objectives, identifies the risks to those objectives, designs responses, and then monitors whether the responses work.
In writing, a firm needs a documented system covering eight components (governance and leadership, the risk assessment process, ethical requirements, client and engagement acceptance, engagement performance, resources, information and communication, and monitoring and remediation), the record of its quality risks and responses, and the annual written evaluation in which the person with ultimate responsibility concludes whether the system provides reasonable assurance.
Firms had to have the system designed and in operation by December 15, 2025, and the first annual evaluation is due within one year of that date.
Who has to comply
Every CPA firm with an accounting or auditing practice under AICPA standards: audits, reviews, compilations, preparation engagements, and attestation engagements. Firm size does not matter; sole practitioners are covered.
What you have to write
Documents on this site that AICPA SQMS No.1 requires or expects, each with who must have it, the review cycle and the obligations that cite it.
What the assessor asks to see
The reviewer asks for the firm's documented system of quality management (objectives, risks, responses), the risk assessment process and how it was updated, monitoring and remediation records, the annual evaluation and conclusion signed by the person with ultimate responsibility, independence and ethics confirmations, acceptance and continuance files, and a sample of engagement files to test that the responses operate in practice.
Where the requirement sits: SQMS No.1 components: governance and leadership, ethical requirements, acceptance/continuance, engagement performance, resources, information and communication, monitoring and remediation; annual evaluation
Key dates
SQMS No. 1 was issued in June 2022. Systems of quality management had to be designed and implemented by December 15, 2025.
The first annual evaluation of the system is due within one year of that date, so by December 15, 2026. Related standards effective at the same time include SQMS No. 2 (engagement quality reviews), SAS No. 146, SSARS No. 26, and SSAE No. 23.
Every internal policy in one place
AllyMatter is a full system for every internal policy your company keeps, including the ones AICPA SQMS No.1 turns on. Build the whole library in one place, across every department, and prove who has read what.
Policies you can run here
How it works
Every document is approved by someone other than its author, versioned, distributed to the people it covers and acknowledged by name. Sign it where a signature is what the standard wants, send a set out together as a package, and export a dated record of who read which version when an assessor asks.
Most of what an assessor reads for this standard is written policy and proof that people acknowledged it. That is the layer AllyMatter owns.
Who helps with AICPA SQMS No.1
A large practice-management consulting ecosystem exists: state CPA society peer review staff, quality management consultants, and template vendors help firms write the risk assessment, map objectives to responses, and set up monitoring.
Typical engagement shape is a gap analysis against SQCS No. 8, a workshop to draft quality objectives and risks, then a documented system and monitoring plan before the firm's next peer review.
Firms that name this framework in their own material. A listing is not a recommendation. Each firm can confirm its own.
Consultants
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Who assesses AICPA SQMS No.1
Peer reviewers under the AICPA Peer Review Program (a qualified CPA firm and team captain approved by the program), administered by state CPA societies or the National Peer Review Committee. State boards of accountancy generally require enrollment in peer review as a condition of licensure.
Accredited by AICPA Peer Review Board sets reviewer qualifications and program standards; state boards of accountancy recognize the program for licensure.
Public register of assessors: peerreview.aicpa.org ↗
Assessors
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Tools for AICPA SQMS No.1
Tools that name this framework in their own material.
Grouped by type. Inside each group the order is random, reshuffled each time the page loads. AllyMatter, the publisher of this site, is always first.
AllyMatterPolicy management tool, the policy and acknowledgment layerPublisher of this siteRelated reading
- Implementing the AICPA's New Quality Management StandardsAcademic and practitioner account of how the risk-based system replaces SQCS No. 8, including the annual evaluation and who can sign it.The CPA Journal
- SQMS 1 Explained: A Practical Guide to Firm-Level Quality ManagementWorks through quality objectives, quality risks and responses in order, sized for sole practitioners as well as multi-office firms.Thomson Reuters
Independent third-party explainers, chosen by hand. Not affiliated with this site and not paid placements. All links are nofollow.
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From the publisher
Run the Policy Side of AICPA SQMS No.1 in AllyMatter
Approve the policies AICPA SQMS No.1 asks for, keep every version, and record a named acknowledgment from each person who has to read them.