Your Duty to Report Conduct to CPABC – Including Your Own
From CPABC ’ s Ethics Department
During your professional working career , you may encounter a situation in which you discover that a fellow CPA might have breached the high ethical standards that we , as a self-regulated profession , have set . To maintain the good reputation of the profession , it is vital that we be vigilant regarding the conduct of our fellow professionals to ensure that public confidence in our profession is both warranted and maintained . Some readers may not be aware that all CPABC members and students 1 (“ you ” in this article ) are required to report breaches of the CPA Code of Professional Conduct ( CPA Code ) to CPABC . In addition to reporting breaches committed by other CPAs and students , this also includes self-reporting your own conduct .
Conduct of others : What must be reported ?
Rule 211 of the CPA Code requires you to report to CPABC ’ s registrar any information concerning an apparent code breach and / or any information that raises doubt as to the competence , reputation , or integrity of another CPABC member or student . The guidance to rule 211 makes it clear that the rule is not intended to require the reporting of minor perceived faults , as each mistake is not necessarily a breach of the CPA Code . In deciding to report , you should believe that the matter raises doubts as to the competence , reputation , or integrity of the individual in question .
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Note : “ Students ” here refers to both
Poike / iStock / Thinkstock candidates ( those in the CPA Professional Education Program ) and students ( those in CPA preparatory courses or the Advanced Certificate in Accounting and Finance ).
32 CPABC in Focus • Mar / Apr 2017