Kaci Szczygiel, Tim Sonker, Ryan Wiktor ACC223B; Professor Aquino December 13, 2017 IFRS Bootcamp Research Paper Ethics In Accounting: A Detailed Comparison Between AICPA and IMA Ethical Standards Now more than ever it is important to know what IFRS is and what AICPA and IMA are, especially pertaining to their ethical standards. IFRS or the International Accounting Standards Board is a group of highly experienced professionals in the accounting field. They deal with the setting of standards, as well as preparing, auditing or using financial reports, and educating future accountants. The AICPA or the American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants is a non-profit organization of American Certified Public Accountants (CPA) who create …show more content…
The profession is slowly becoming as important as a doctor’s or a lawyer’s. Like so, where doctors and lawyers have certain standards they need to follow, accountants do as well. In the United States, the standards board is known as FASB, but around the rest of the world, the standards originate from IFRS. Globally there is a shift towards IFRS standards evident by the SEC permitting foreign businesses to use IFRS accounting principles when listing themselves on stock exchanges. This is putting pressure on FASB to converge with IFRS. Steven Mintz says this about IFRS …show more content…
It is an organization that has the largest amount of members representing the accounting profession. The AICPA used to have much more power than they do today, but due to changes in the profession, they no longer create the standards like they used to. And, even though they are an American based organization, they have much to do with international accounting. Like mentioned above, the AICPA tends to focus on protecting the investors, rather than the businesses themselves when it comes to their ethical standards. They focus a great deal on things like integrity, public interest, objectivity and various others. The almost 200 page code of conduct includes all of the ethical rules every one of the over 400,000 members of the AICPA should follow. This is just one of the many different rules and
Which of the principles of AICPA Code of Conduct is most related section 5062.2 of the California Accountancy Act? Explain your conclusion.
The principles of the AICPA Code of Conduct should guide the work that Jose and Emily do as auditors. The principles that specifically apply to this situation are Responsibilities, The Public Interest, and Due Care. CPAs have the responsibility to “exercise sensitive professional and moral judgments in all activities.” (Mintz, p. 19)
The non-profit professional organization, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), was founded in the United States of America. The organization was founded in 1887, to help ensure that the accounting profession would gain the same respect as the other prestigious occupations had received from the public. The accounting profession, similar to the medical, legal, and engineering professions, is characterized by “…rigorous educational requirements [150 credit hours], high professional standards, a strict code of professional ethics, licensing status [Uniform CPA Examination], and a commitment to serving the public interest” (AICPA, 2016). These five characteristics
The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct defines independence as consisting of independence of mind and independence in appearance. According to the AICPA Code of Conduct, Section 55 Article IV, An accountant member should maintain objectivity and be free of conflicts of interest in discharging professional responsibilities. Moreover, a member who practices their accounting work in a public firm should be independent in fact and appearance when providing auditing and other attestation services (aicpa.org). According to the case study What Lies Beneath, I think that Betty did not show her professional skepticism since she built trust on her client, which she could not have as an auditor. As an auditor,
The codes typically are broad in definition, seldom providing detailed, acceptable behavior. Essentially, the code of conduct expands on the right behavior definition of ethics, which is the study of right or wrong behavior (Miller). The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has adopted an ethical code called the Statement of Ethical Professional Practice that describes, in some detail, the ethical responsibilities of management accountants. All employees must follow ethical business practices to maintain a healthy economy built on trust in the reliability and fairness of everyday transactions (Noreen). Accordingly, management accountants must adhere to the standards established in the IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice, or they will lose the trust of their peers and customers and could risk prosecution.
What is IFRS, and what is its significance in the world market? In 2001 the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB, was created to develop a set of standards by which global financial statuses could be reported. According to financialstabilityboard.org, this set of standards, known as the International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, falls under the jurisdiction of the IFRS Foundation, which is a non-profit, private and independently run entity that exists for the public interest, is based on four principle objectives. The first is to develop a single set of international financial reporting standards (IFRS). This set would be high in quality, readily understandable, easily enforceable, and acceptable world-wide. The second objective is to encourage the use of this set of standards in the international business world. Thirdly, the ISAB would like to monitor the needs of different sizes and types of businesses in different settings. The fourth objective is to promote the adoption of the IFRS by converging national accounting standards wit...
The PCAOB has the authorization to provide rules governing the following areas; ethics, independence, and quality control for any registered accounting firm...
Cost Accounting: Its role and ethical considerations Introduction: Accounting is the process of identifying, measuring, and communicating economic information about an entity for the purpose of making decisions and informed judgements. The major areas of within the accounting are: Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting/Cost Accounting and Auditing- Public Accounting Managerial accounting is concerned with the use of economic and financial information to plan and control the activities of an entity and to support the management in planning and decision-making process. Cost accounting is the subset of managerial accounting and it helps management in determination and accumulation of product, process or service cost. Role of Cost Accounting: Increased competition and uncertain business conditions have put significant pressure on corporate management to make informed business decisions and maximize their company?s financial performance. In response to this pressure, a range of management accounting tools and techniques has emerged.
I have applied the IFRS to audit half-year income statement and statement of finical position from domestic sub-company or oversea branches. This allows me to understand the difficultly of dealing with accounting report form different nations. For example, we have to negotiate each report from the U.S. with their reporter by phone. It would take incredibly long time to explain the difference in order to adjust the figures in the reports. During the stuff training, we have been taught that to be professional at everywhere and anytime. Moreover, I realise that the most important feature to be a professional accountancy is responsibility. This is because that a unit of misallocation will cost other team number a huge amount of work to correct it. The experience of taking notes of weekly conferences between senior managers and PWC partner has indicates that how does change in financial policy influence the accounting treatment. For instant, since vice-perminster Mr Le Ke Qiang who visited China Construction Bank at earlier May. He point out that the Rate of Non-Performing Loans could not exceed 7% in the “BIG Four” Chinese bank. This has led Chinese bank to relax its accounting standard of credit rating. It allows me to understand the relationship between government and financial
It is highly essential for accountants and business professionals to maintain a standard of ethical conduct in the workplace as the nature of their work places them in position of trust. (Senarante, 2011). Accountants have the responsibility to ensure that their duties are performed in accordance with the five fundamental principles set out in the Code of Professional Ethics such as integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentially and professional behaviour (Cunningham et al. 2014). Accountants are expected to be reliable and trustworthy. Thus they are required to act ethically in relation to their clients, employers and the general public in order to provide quality services in the best interest of the society (Eginiwin & Dike, 2014). The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) have established a code of ethics for accountants, allowing each specific country to add their own national ethical standards to the code to reflect cultural differences. The code provides emphasis on the five fundamental principles as well as resolution of ethical conflicts. In Australia, professional accounting bodies such as CPA Australia, Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICCA) and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) adopt the Australian Professional and Ethical
Private and public accounting has long been discussed and disputed in regards to financial reporting. Since the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) was created in 1973, accountants have called for different accounting regulations for private and public accounting sectors, as private companies do not have the resources to meet the complex requirements of public companies. Private companies currently are not required by law to issue annual or quarterly financial statements (James, 2012). Private companies do, however, have the option to apply the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), cash basis, or accrual accounting to their financial statements (James, 2012).
The international professional activities of the accountancy bodies were organized under the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in 1977. In 1981, IASC and IFAC agreed that IASC would have full and complete autonomy in setting international accounting standards and in publishing discussion documents on international accounting issues. At the same time, all members of IFAC became members of IASC. This membership link was discontinued in May 2000 when IASC's Constitution was changed as part of the reorganization of IASC.
In 1887, the American Association of Public Accountants was formed with the first standardized tests coming out about a decade later (Zeff, 2003, pg. 2). In 1896, New York State passed the first law for Certified Public Accountants (CPA), which Zeff (2003) “marked the beginning of an accredited profession of accounting in the United States” (pg 2). In Canada, the first association began in 1902 with the Dominion Association of Chartered Accountants (Buckstein, part 1 pg 2). Buckstein quoted John L. Carey, the author of a paper outlining the history of the accounting profession worldwide stated “the reason for creating a full-fledged professional organization was to distinguish skilled accountants of integrity from self-styled accountants whose competence had not been demonstrated” (pg. 2) As Zeff (2003) stated with the passage of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 all publicly traded companies were now required to have their financials audited by independent CPA’s (pg. 4). This showcased the importance of having skilled and knowledgeable individuals produce verifiable and accurate information that the public (in all its forms) could rely upon. The combination of having professional accounting bodies and government legislations have attempted to establish
What does the accountant of the future need to be successful? A sturdy education that while is based on traditional accounting practices, also prepares future accountants for the plethora of changes happening in the accounting universe. Frequently, most of the institutions responsible for educating professionals fail to evolve as rapidly as the professional practice itself (Bedford et al. 4). In every way, accounting is expanding and in order for the future to have competent accountants, accounting education must expand as well. Major changes occurring in the world of accounting include the expansion of services and products, changes in competition, an increase in specialization, and an increase in and an advancement of technology. It is up to academic institutions to find proactive ways in which to prepare students for such changes. Accounting education of the future will require more breadth to cover the inevitable expansion of services and products, increased knowledge of economics, marketing, management and information systems to increase competitive advantage, a balanced course load that provides a general accounting knowledge as well as increased knowledge of a specialization, and also a greater, proactive focus on the use of continuously advancing accounting technologies (Bedford et al. 8). Also in play is the chance of change in accounting standards, the move from US GAAP to IFRS. While there are no certainties surrounding the threat of such change, students in the U.S. should acquire at least a general, basic feel for the practices used in regards to IFRS. The future health of the accounting profession depends, to a great extent, on the health of our students (Gormon and Hargadon 4). Reorganization of curriculums would surely be difficult and assumedly time-consuming, but nevertheless, completely
On April 1, 2001, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was created to replace the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). One of the many roles that the IASB plays is the creation and issuance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Defined, IFRS is the standards and interpretations set forth by the IASB and its predecessor IASC. Two of the most recent regulations set forth by IFRS after the Enron scandal are IFRS 10 and IFRS 12. IFRS 10 addresses the consolidation of financial statements by an entity when it controls one or more child companies or special entities. As for IFRS 12, it addresses the interest disclosure in other entities, such as: subsidiaries, and unconsolidated ‘structured entities’.