Resolving Ethical Dilemmas—You Make the Call

By now, we should all understand the ethical obligations we have as CPAs. So, theoretically, if we just all agree to remain ethical, we should not have CPA ethical violations. But, of course our professional ethics committees still have plenty of cases to investigate. This session will examine several recent high-profile--but non-CPA--ethics cases and evaluate why they happened, how they could have been prevented, and whether a typical CPA would have committed the same transgression. By examining the ethical flaws in other professionals, we should gain a better understanding of our own ethical compasses.

Learning Objectives: 

• Ethical frameworks
  
• AICPA and Yellow Book threats and safeguards
  
• Ethics rules of other professions
  
• Why conflicts of interest are often the greatest ethical issues to deal with
  

• Ethical frameworks
  
• Threats and safeguards to objectivity and independence
  
• Ethics rules for lawyers, investigators, journalists, medical researchers, engineers, and prosecutors
  
• The Arthur Andersen case 

Designed for: Accountants and auditors at all levels

Level: Basic

Instructor: David Cotton

Developer: David L. Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM

CPE Credits: 2

Area(s) of Study: Accounting (Governmental) - Technical & Auditing (Governmental) - Technical

Prerequisite: None