Compliance Glossary

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is a professional organization representing certified public accountants in the United States. It was founded in 1887 and has more than 428,000 members currently. The AICPA sets accounting and auditing standards for the profession, provides education and training, and advocates for its members. It also offers certifications for CPAs, including the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. The AICPA, through its SOC 2 standard, has created a framework that evaluates an organization’s commitment to data security. This set of criteria—known as the Trust Services Criteria (TSCs) assesses Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Privacy, and Processing Integrity.