{"id":67087,"date":"2019-10-07t22:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-10-08t02:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=67087"},"modified":"2020-02-03t17:29:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03t22:29:14","slug":"accountant-super-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2019\/10\/07\/accountant-super-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"accountants: unleash your secret superpower"},"content":{"rendered":"
it’s time for the super-heroes of ethical behavior and the public trust to help save the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n by donny c. shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma<\/em><\/p>\n it seems like every day there is either news of a new scandal or additional \u201cdiscoveries\u201d about an on-going scandal. it\u2019s quite depressing.<\/p>\n i finally took a step back to ask myself: \u201cwhy is this happening? are we just doomed to a world that is just becoming more and more corrupt? or is there something that can be done to stop this degeneration of society?\u201d<\/p>\n are accountants natively ethical?<\/strong><\/p>\n as i pondered how to solve the corruption problem, i asked myself, \u201chow do we get more people to behave more ethically\u2014more like us accountants?\u201d<\/p>\n this then caused me to ask\u2026<\/p>\n in my experience, it is the latter that is true. i know that growing up, i believed in justice and doing what\u2019s right. when i was looking for a career, it was the cpa\u2019s independence and objectivity that resonated strongly with me. it paired with my desire to truly help people and resulted in my choosing a career as an accountant. (see \u201caccounting services aren\u2019t what you think they are<\/a>\u201d for the true services i believe accountants provide to people.)<\/p>\n from discussions with my accountant colleagues, i believe that many of us have the native desire to do what is ethical, and we are willing to put the needs of others above our own to do what is right for the greater good, rather than personal gain. the accounting profession feels so strongly about this, it\u2019s written into our codes of conduct and defined further in our professional standards. see the aicpa code of conduct<\/a>, iia code of ethics<\/a>, aga code of ethics<\/a>, and the ima statement of ethical professional practice<\/a> as just a few examples.<\/p>\n going beyond professional ethics to a duty to the public<\/strong><\/p>\n this duty to the greater good (the \u201cpublic\u201d) is a key differentiator of accountants from other learned professionals. a doctor’s key duty is to \u201cdo no harm\u201d and to the well-being of their patients. but there is nothing that stops them from making decisions that have personal gain involved\u2014the courting of physicians and incentives provided by the pharmaceutical industry are a prime example of this conflict of interest.<\/p>\n lawyers\u2019 key duty is to their client, or, when a judge, to the law itself. there are many examples where you can see how the outcome of a court case benefited a client but has had negative repercussions on the public. or where a judge doesn\u2019t fundamentally agree with a ruling but must make the ruling because of the way a law is written.<\/p>\n only accountants, and particularly cpas, are empowered by our duty to the public and we must put the public above our personal and even our employer\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n it\u2019s the reason why even though external auditors are hired by an organization\u2019s management, that auditors may still report issues with internal controls or the financials themselves\u2014so that the public and other stakeholders don\u2019t invest in a company that is not fairly presenting their financial position.<\/p>\n it\u2019s the reason why cpa tax professionals won\u2019t help clients circumvent the law, but rather only pay what\u2019s rightfully due under the tax code.<\/p>\n and it\u2019s why advisory-focused cpas like myself evaluate our clients\u2019 integrity before agreeing to help them, and why we also monitor the ethical behavior and decision-making process of clients while we\u2019re working with them and have processes in place to disengage from a client if we perceive a significant issue with a client\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n \u00a0(re-)introducing the cpa credo<\/strong><\/p>\n the strength of conviction of cpas in this duty to the public is perhaps best represented by the \u201ccpa credo\u201d introduced by eli mason<\/a> in the late 1900s. eli mason\u2019s \u201ccpa credo\u201d charges cpas (excerpt from the cpa journal, november 2001<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n
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to serve the public from whom my authority is derived<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n