New CPA Essentials: Ethics and Leadership

Disruption is changing the workplace.

More and more tasks are becoming automated and artificial intelligence (AI) is improving. Industries are being disrupted, and we increasingly find ourselves partnering with robots and AI. In this environment human skills have become even more valuable.

Develop your human skills.

This three-part self-study online series will help you develop the skills that make you uniquely human and position you to take advantage of the new opportunities that await.

Included in this series:

• Coaching vs Mentoring - Explains the differences between coaching and mentoring and outlines techniques to help colleagues and peers develop and grow.
• Emotional Intelligence - Defines emotional intelligence and highlights how it can greatly increase your chances of personal and professional success.
• Leading vs. Managing - Explains the differences between managing and leading and helps you identify when it's appropriate to manage and when it's appropriate to lead.

Ethical accounting is nonnegotiable

Honesty, objectivity, and professional conduct are crucial components of the accounting and finance profession. Understand the fundamentals of ethical accounting, including how to:

• Objectively view and analyze ethical matters
• Apply the AICPA independence rules regarding personal financial interests, loans, employment, and business relationships that relate to you and your immediate family
• Adhere to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and apply the code’s conceptual framework

Along with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, you’ll learn about:

• Independence rules from regulators, including the SEC and PCAOB
• Rules that apply to government auditors and audits of employee benefit plans, federally funded charitable organizations, financial institutions, and insurance

Last but not least, you’ll learn when to apply the appropriate ethics rules when you provide professional tax services. Appropriate ethics rules could entail

• AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
• Statements on Standards for Tax Services
• U.S. Treasury Department’s Circular No. 230;
• Internal Revenue Code (IRC) provisions applicable to federal tax practice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT YOUR CPE CREDIT:

Many states do not accept the AICPA course to meet the ethics requirement for earning or maintaining a CPA license. Please contact your state board to determine which ethics course is required to earn your license. If you are taking the course for licensure you must pass with a score of 90 percent or higher to qualify towards earning your CPA license. If you are taking the course to maintain your existing license you must pass with a score of 70 percent or higher.

Professional Ethics: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Comprehensive Course (For Licensure) is offered online. To purchase the version of this course for licensure, select the item on this page.

Who Will Benefit

• Accounting and finance professionals earning a CPA license
• CPAs maintaining their CPA license

Key Topics

• Introduction to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
• Conceptual framework of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
• Independence rules from the AICPA and other regulators
• Ethics rules per the AICPA and the U.S. Government
• Activities that discredit the profession
• Ethics interpretations issued by PEEC

Learning Outcomes

• Recognize the bodies that set ethics rules and regulations for the accounting profession.
• Recall the “General Standards Rule,” the “Compliance with Standards Rule,” and the “Accounting Principles Rule” of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
• Recall how to respond to pressure when preparing and reporting information.
• Recall how to apply the conceptual framework.
• Recognize the fundamental concepts underlying the “Independence Rule” of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
• Identify situations in which the independence rules apply to you and your family.
• Identify the requirements for performing nonattest services for an attest client.
• Recall the types of business relationships with clients that create threats to independence.
• Indicate AICPA ethics interpretations on integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, and advertising.
• Identify SEC, PCAOB, GAO, and other regulatory and independence rules.
• Recall the standard-setting bodies and regulators relevant to tax practice.