How to become a sponsoring organization for peer reviews

(a) To qualify as a sponsoring organization, a third-party entity shall submit a peer review administration plan to the board for review and approval. The peer review administration plan shall: (1) Establish a peer review report committee and any necessary subcommittees and provide professional staff as needed for the operation of the peer review program; (2) Establish a program to communicate to firms participating in the peer review program the latest developments in peer review standards and the most common findings in the peer reviews conducted by the sponsoring organization; (3) Establish procedures for resolving any disagreement that may arise out of the performance of a peer review; (4) Establish procedures to resolve matters that may lead to the dismissal of a firm from the peer review program; (5) Establish procedures to evaluate and document the performance of each peer reviewer, including procedures related to the disqualification of a reviewer who does not meet the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants standards; (6) Require the maintenance of records of peer reviews conducted under the program in accordance with the records retention rules of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and this part; and (7) Provide for periodic reports to the board on the results of the peer review program; provided that reports submitted to the board shall not contain information concerning specific firms or peer reviewers. (b) A sponsoring organization: (1) Shall be subject to review and oversight by the board; (2) Shall not require firms or the firms' owners or employees to become members of the sponsoring organization to participate in a peer review; and (3) Shall charge the same rate for peer review services to members and nonmembers. (c) The public company accounting oversight board shall be exempt from the requirements of this section.