Hello:
I have gotten information back from WebTrust. A company that is no longer listed
means that either:
"1) the company is no longer licensed as a WebTrust practitioner; 2) the
agreement has expired and has either not been renewed or is in the process of
renewal (past renewal due date)." Without consent from the firm they cannot
comment specifically.
I asked if licensing in WebTrust is separate from professional licensing as an
accounting firm and was told there is "a specific set of rules/protocols that we
follow when licensing a practitioner (including but not limited to a signing
partner(s)’ and staff qualifications/credentials/standing, etc.)." I asked if
those rules are public and was told "We don't disclose this information
publicly."
Thus it remains to me uncertain if being a professionally licensed accountancy
is a necessary requirement to be a WebTrust practitioner for the purposes of
auditing CAs. Indeed, there empirical evidence [1] from the last year and a half
refuting the hypothesis that active professional licensing is mandatory requirement.
That said, the country listed after the practitioner is the "countries listed
after a firm(s) on our webpage indicate the countries where the firm(s) is
licensed to carry out audit engagements", which I take to mean that Canadian
operations could not have been part of a WebTrust audit in 2021. [2]
There may also be statements within the audit itself, e.g. "Our examination was
conducted in accordance with attestation standards established by the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA")." [3] that might necessitate
that, e.g., the audit is performed by a firm that is professionally licensed
accountancy, but I don't know if that is the case.
Joel Reardon
[1] Limited historical records here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/audit-and-assurance/overview-of-webtrust-services/licensed-webtrust-practitioners-internationalshow Princeton Audit Group as a WebTrust practitioner until Dec 5, 2022. I
also created a timeline of WebTrust practitioner changes based on archived
captures [4]. As noted earlier, Princeton Audit Group has had an inactive
professional license since June 30, 2021. [5]
[2]
https://web.archive.org/web/20191127040237/https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/audit-and-assurance/overview-of-webtrust-services/licensed-webtrust-practitioners-internationallists Princeton Audit Group for United States only and future captures are
consistent. A few months earlier it was listed for Canada only
https://web.archive.org/web/20190820081614/https://www.cpacanada.ca/en/business-and-accounting-resources/audit-and-assurance/overview-of-webtrust-services/licensed-webtrust-practitioners-international[3]
https://www.cpacanada.ca/generichandlers/CPACHandler.ashx?attachmentid=c8857fc5-b201-4c4c-8717-f455b10ff5bc[4]
https://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~joel.reardon/trustwebtrust/history.html[5]
https://newjersey.mylicense.com/verification/
(do business search for Princeton Audit Group, which gives a license number of
20CB00580700 with inactive status )