The ever-changing dynamics in business have led to many optimistic changes in the business environment. But along with that, there are certain scenarios where individuals have to go out of the line method to keep their business going. It's observed that due to constantly increasing work pressure, unrealistic expectations, and deadlines have resulted in declining quality of life.
A study shows that individuals who are suffering from financial instability or economic hardships tend to go for under-the-table ways. In simple language, they opt for creative and unethical options, sometimes illegal ways to make their work done. For the same scenario, when we talk about accountants, they are said to be resistant to any such temptations.
Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) should know the fact that they are not supposed to take legal risks. Indeed, ethical and legal dilemmas cannot be avoided completely, but there are ways to handle such scenarios. Management should curate strategies that will assist in such issues and can prevent CPAs and other personnel from any such creative activities.
There are some common ethical issues with every other organization, and these issues can be guarded before it arises. Issues such as two-party transactions, pro bono work, conflicts of interest, and confidentiality agreements.
Let us have a look at some issues that can create havoc but can be solved with wise decisions and proper prevention.
Ethics involving conflict of interest: If you are providing service to both vendor and a purchaser, or your client is looking forward to acquiring another client or the most challenging one, you are in a midst of a situation where two clients want to acquire the same business! Tough call it is, right? But no matter what, whenever it is a question of conflict of interest, don't let any of the scenarios influence your business judgments. To find a way out of it, you can simply create accounting teams and then can discuss this with them. This way, you don't have to take all the stress by yourself!
Playing with numbers: The most common creative (unethical) request the client makes to their accountant is to play with the numbers. Sounds fun Nah? But it can lead to serious legal action against both. Mostly these are requested to distort a company's financial picture. These requests put an accountant in a difficult situation, but not to forget, going the ethical way should be your only option.
Disclosure of confidentiality: Maintaining the client's confidentiality should be the first and foremost duty of a public accountant. But, there are certain times when an accountant is forced to breach the confidentiality of the client. What can be such scenarios? And breaching confidentiality wouldn't be unethical? Well, it completely depends on what the case is! If at any moment, you suspect something unusual, take a bit of legal advice before taking any action.
These were the few cases, but depending upon the severity of a case, an individual should react accordingly. All this training and situation handling stuff are necessary to be taught while you opt for CPA, but not everyone can get that kind of guidance!
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