"What we need now is nothing less than a restoration of our profession," Ezzell told 1,800 audience members Thursday at the AICPA's annual National Conference on Current SEC Developments. The speech was an obvious attempt at convincing accountants, regulators and the general public that the association representing hundreds of thousands of public accountants is doing all it can to ensure there is never a repeat of corporate scandals like those that occurred this year.

Ezzell said restoring faith in the profession relied on resisting corporate pressures to fudge financial statements, making financial reporting more transparent, and supporting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which he called "the law of the land."

Ezzell also discussed standard-setting. "We have an important responsibility in ensuring appropriate standard-setting for our own profession," he said. "To fulfill this responsibility, we need to have frequent and fruitful dialogue with the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)."

In more depth, Ezzell called on the PCAOB -- which is in the middle of recruiting top officers -- to rely on the current standard-setting processes. "We need to set standards by calling on the experience of the men and women who are on the front lines, doing audits every day, and learning from every audit they conduct," he said. "We need to assess whether the problems arose from the standards themselves or from the failure to apply those standards appropriately in difficult and complex situations. The evidence so far indicates to me that the failure was in the performance."

AICPA public relations have been in full force since September, when the association announced its anti-fraud campaign. In October, it released a new standard that gives auditors expanded guidance in detecting fraud. Last month, the AICPA, along with six other professional organizations, produced a set of anti-fraud programs and controls for boards of directors and management. And earlier this week the AICPA and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners announced a free, one-hour anti-fraud training CD-ROM that businesses can use to educate all personnel about fraud.

The AICPA National Conference on Current SEC Developments concludes today.