Accountants' Index

The Accountants' Index is a list of articles and books of interest to accounting professionals that is released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) on a quarterly and annual basis. Topics of interest include auditing, tax accounting, financial accounting and managerial accounting. Subtopics are refined to reflect current trends and movements throughout the accounting profession. These range from such vast areas as public policy to more narrow interests such as the effects of changes in a state's personal income tax.

Because it was designed as a print-only publication, the Accountants' Index saw diminished relevance in the Internet age. As a result, the Index was renamed the Accounting and Tax Index in 1992. Adjustments included a redesign to the index structure, searchability and online accessibility. The new Accounting and Tax Index is still available in print form.

Founded in 1887, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the United States. According to the organization, it now has more than 418,000 members in 143 countries in business and industry, public practice, government, education, student affiliates and international associates. Seeing it help set the ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations, federal, state and local governments, it makes sense the organization would contribute to thought leadership. One way to do this is with its Accountants' Index. The Index itself is one more in a chain of similar corporate endeavors such as Edelman's Trust Barometer, Bloomberg's Misery Index, and Morningstar's Economic Moat. Each of these is the culmination of their expert's original research and analysis.