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There has been lively discussions, both national (NSA Tax Talk) and local (ASCPAs tax list serv) about requests from lenders to CPAs to write letters on behalf of their clients.  Although this is not a new phenomenon, the requests have been asking for more attestation than in prior years.

I just had my first request from a loan officer that wanted me to attest to the fact that my client was no longer self-employed despite the fact that I had less proof of this than him.  My client was self-employed as of 2010 and in fact will file a Schedule C for part of 2011.  Luckily, my client is well informed and told her loan officer that if, her CPA not writing a newsletter was a deal breaker, to cancel her application.  He immediately wrote back to her and said "not to worry, he'd find another way."

It was mentioned in a post, that the problem is not that the lenders ask for this, it is that there are CPAs (and others) that ignore our regulations and will write letters of attestation when they shouldn't.  I always explain to my clients that I can write what is called a "comfort letter." 

I went back to earlier emails I had received from my Professional Liability Insurance carrier.  Here is an article they sent on the issue of Comfort Letters including an example of one.

http://www.cpai.com/show-article?id=141

I am saddened when I hear a colleague loses a client because of this.  But as several have noted, it is better to lose one client than for us to lose our entire practice for not following our rules and regulations.