Acct 530 - Acct Ethics and Regulatory Issues

Character Traits Paper

Ross McVey

Acct 530: Acct Ethics and Regulatory Issues

Week 4

August 3, 2014

The character trait I chose is competence. Competence is the ability to perform your task well. In accounting competency is measured by the ability to follow the generally accepted accounting principles. Competence in accounting is achieved through training and experience in the field. Specific to accounting CPA’s need to be competent in their field of practice. The field of accountancy has become too broad for na individual to be competent in all areas. A CPA therefore specializes in specific fields of expertise, like taxation, auditing and attestation, or business management.

Competence is important since the public depends upon the statements of an accountant. Many people underrate the difficulty in properly creating the financial statements of a company. The ability to accurately formulate balance sheets and profit and loss statements is critical to determine the pricing of goods and services, the amount of inventory to hold, the vendor relationships to establish and needed staffing levels just to name a few items. These financial statements need to be formulated in accordance with state and federal laws. They also need to adhere to tax codes.

The state of Wisconsin has a standard of 150 hours of education in order to be licensed as a CPA. And individual can sit for the exam at 120 hours but must achieve 150 to hold themselves out as a CPA. They adopted the 150 hour requirement after the Big-8 accounting firms and several other states had established the need for education in accounting. (WICPA.ORG). The AICPA also supports the 150 hour standard for higher education before becoming a CPA. The current law of 150 hours