To provide CPAs and other finance professionals with ethics education that satisfies the Ohio CPA ethics CPE requirement while strengthening their understanding of Ohio Accountancy Board rules, professional standards, and the ethical responsibilities outlined in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.

• Background: ethics, morals, and confronting ethical dilemmas
• Revised Ohio Accountancy Board Law and Rules, including Chapter 4701 (Ohio CPA regulations)
• Accounting standards, including: 
  – Integrity and objectivity
  – Auditing
  – Tax services
  – Consulting
• Ethical standards applied to real-world CPA use cases and professional scenarios
• AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, including:
  – Members in public practice
  – Members in business
  – Other members

To satisfy the Ethics requirement for Ohio CPAs and emphasize the need for prudent ethical judgment when interpreting the rules and determining the public interest. You’ll use case studies and discussion questions to understand how to apply the rules to real ethical dilemmas.

DETAILED LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Recognize the key attributes of professional ethics

• Identify threats to a CPA’s independence

• Identify both allowable and prohibited opportunities for a CPA to earn commission and contingent fee income

• Identify the circumstances in which a CPA can release confidential client information

• Recognize the circumstances in which a CPA could express an opinion on financial statements that are not presented in conformity to GAAP

• Identify the CPE requirements applicable to Ohio CPAs

• Recognize a CPA’s options when confronted with a possible conflict of interest where objectivity does not appear to be compromised

• Recognize examples of a CPA’s discreditable acts in the context of the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct

• Identify those circumstances under which a CPA may issue a compilation report on the entity for which he lacks independence

• Ethics background
• Ohio Revised Code—Accountancy Board Law and Rules
• Public accounting and regulated services
• Accounting and ethics standards
• Professional responsibility: issues for accountants
• Disciplinary actions
• General and accounting standards
• AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
• Preparing and reporting information
• Advertising
• Independence, conflicts of interest and objectivity
• Record retention and ownership of information
• Members in business and public practices
• Contingent fees, commissions and referral fees
• Forms of organization