The primary functions CPA fulfill relate to assurance services, or public accounting.

Establish appropriate policies and procedures to guide the internal audit function, and ensure the quality of the assurance services delivered.

Audits can be considered a type of assurance services.

In this respect, assurance services can be very helpful in reducing such risk and help managers or decision makers make more confident decisions within a given firm.

In contrast, assurance services are designed to test the validity of past data of the business cycles.

Other examples of assurance services include:

Since 1997, CESG now charges for most of the information security/information assurance services it offers.

Nonassurance services differ from assurance services.

This overlap will be considered only when the primary purpose of both non-assurance service and assurance service is the same, i.e. to improve the quality of information.

"Our position on this issue will be vindicated," J. Terry Strange, the firm's national managing partner of assurance services, said in a statement.