Ethics and Professionalism

All individuals are faced with ethical challenges throughout their lives. Accountants and auditors are not immune to these challenges. They are constantly faced with new and every changing challenges that require them to make difficult decisions. To help them with these ethical dilemmas the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts established its Code of Professional Conduct.

The AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct is not unique. Many professions such as lawyers and doctors have such codes (Eber, 2004). Accountants and auditors are leaders of the financial word and therefore need to be held to a high level of professionalism. The public must feel as though it can trust accountants and auditors to handle themselves appropriately. The Code of Professional Conduct has been specifically designed for guiding accountants and auditors in their day to day activities.

The Code of Professional Conduct has two primary sections. These sections are the principles and the rules. The principles act as a framework for the rules (Murphy, 2010). The rules are the actual laws that govern accountants and auditors (Murphy, 2010).

There are currently six principles of professional conduct (AICPA). They are responsibilities, public interest, integrity, objectivity and independence, due care, and scope and nature of service (AICPA). The responsibilities principle dictates that members exercise sensitive professional and moral judgements in their activities (AICPA). The public interest principle states that members should act in a way to best serve the public interest, honor the public trust, and demonstrate a commitment to professionalism (AICPA). The integrity principle expects members to perform all professional responsibilities with the highest integrity (AICPA). The objectivity and independence principle dictates that members maintain objectivity and be free of conflicts of interest, as well as be independent in fact and appearance when providing services (AICPA). The due care principle states that members should discharge professional responsibilities with competence and diligence (AICPA). Finally, the scope and nature of services principle expects members to observe the principles in determining the scope and nature of services to be provided (AICPA).

The rules serve as a guideline for accountants and auditors. The code is clearly written and all accountants and auditors should know their responsibility to understand it. Violations may be done knowingly or unknowingly (Zeune, 2012).