Highlights from board of directors' September meeting.

Following are some of the more significant actions that took place at the AICPA Board of Directors' meeting Sept. 22-23:

* Board members received an update on Hurricane Katrina relief efforts (The CPA Letter, Oct.) regarding CPAs helping the public and each other. Among other things, more than 250 accounting firms so far have signed up with the CPA Firm Volunteer Center to offer assistance to affected firms.

* Progress to explore tailoring generally accepted accounting principles for private, for-profit companies was highlighted. A working group of AICPA members and staff and the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been meeting to discuss how best to proceed with the initiative.

* The board's Task Force on Peer Review presented its progress to date. The task force, which is reviewing the feedback received from members as a part of the Institute's transparency awareness initiative, will be recommending supplemental enhancements and/or revisions to the peer review program in a report to the AICPA Board of Directors, AICPA Peer Review Board and the Center for Public Company Audit Firms Peer Review Committee later this year.

* Outstanding results from the profession's multi-year "Start Here. Go Places." student recruitment initiative were presented. The board heard that the campaign has led to improved perceptions and understanding of accounting among high school and college students, a substantial build up of interest in the profession as a career choice and an increase in the number of accounting majors committing to becoming CPAs. (See page 8 for detailed results.)