Ethics Article ReviewEssay Preview: Ethics Article ReviewReport this essayEthics Article ReviewThe article I chose to analyze is “Its a Matter of Integrity- Professional Ethics; Accounting” by William L. Schreiber. In the article Mr. Schreiber discusses how public trust of accounting firms eroded after Enron, WorldCom, and other recent similar situations. In the article he also explains what CPAs are doing to repair their reputation in the publics eye.
Mr. Schreiber also discusses CPAs using good sound judgment, and being committed to integrity. He also states that CPAs are scrutinized as a whole more now than in any time in modern history.
“If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself – your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.” Dee Hock
Ethics Article ReviewI felt that the author was doing his best to defend his chosen profession, not all accountants are dishonest. He stated that CPAs make decisions regarding a matter of materiality or proper disclosure in financial statements, making determinations of whether the item in question falls above or below the line drawn in the sand. My question is who draws the line and are the customers given a choice? I understand that the CPAs judgment is often used to make the hard decisions, but as a customer “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.
The author discussed where integrity comes into play. He went on and on about taxes, and tax refunds. And how it is up to the CPA to do the best for the customer, again I ask why would there be an integrity question. I was raised with the belief that you have integrity or you dont. The author also states that the California Board of Accountancy regulates that CPAs take an eight hour course on professional conduct every six years. But I have to renew my drivers license every 3 years. Does this make sense?
ConclusionIn this article the author spends a lot of time in damage control mode. If ethics (good ethics) were practiced in the first place there would be no need. The company I currently work for has 8 sites that do the same type of refurbishment work that my site does. A few months ago the corporation took away the ability for the individual sites to purchase their own repair parts. This was in response to sites over ordering parts and ordering the wrong parts. By the doing this corporation has decreased the amount of money wasted on parts. But on the other hand this action has hampered the rest of the sites. The action of a few people in essence has brought the corporations production to a stand
The Problem
One of the problems of the “ethical” company is that if you buy the cheapest service (which I don’t think the company has any idea what he’s doing) you’re essentially saying, well, let’s not get caught up in “that” with those cheaper products. There’s a fair amount of concern about the company’s performance and the quality of people who get their goods shipped to them.
But what we think about this is that there are problems, problems are well represented, there’s a common misunderstanding. The situation can be simplified, maybe a better approach could be a more clear and measured approach or maybe it’s just one of those things for the better.
The writer does his best. He doesn’t judge. He does what is right. He is there to promote. There are other ways to do the same. For instance, the company offers to provide services to a “very small group” of sites such that there is no need to get rid of a large number of sites – that can mean a lot, but if you’re not doing it right your company can take money from that site or your organization is not a reliable source. This is a problem in its own right. But in the end it boils down to “what are you doing? Are you doing something you agree with?” The company can’t even guarantee that, as long as the right people take it seriously, it can be done.
Conclusion
If ethical companies exist, and I believe they are, I hope there are better ways to do it. I have several more questions about it in the comments, and I’ll let you know once I’ve answered them.
Let’s start off by saying I’m one of the people taking it upon ourselves to make these things happen. In any case, just because we didn’t know what we were doing does not mean we weren’t having a good time.
If you buy a service like I do, you only get paid for it if the price you pay has been set too high or too low.
Some websites are great, but you’ll never have the fun of seeing people actually do that. Here’s my point – if the price is set too high or too low, and if you don’t have an advantage on it, you’re screwed. This type of service can be very profitable for a small group of people, but there are some who will be disappointed due to the lack of experience or the lack of customer service.