Acts Discreditable to the Profession

Lesson: Acts Discreditable to the Profession

This lesson discusses acts that are discreditable to the profession of a CPA. These acts include retaining client records after the client demands them to be returned, violating the code of conduct, committing fraud or dishonest acts, engaging in illegal or unethical business practices, failing to comply with professional standards, misrepresenting qualifications or experience, engaging in conflicts of interest, and failing to maintain client confidentiality. The lesson emphasizes the importance of avoiding these acts to maintain the integrity of the profession. Consequences for committing such acts can range from suspension to being permanently barred from practicing as a CPA.

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Instructor: Nick Palazzolo

Nick Palazzolo is head instructor of ExamPrep.ai CPA Review. Nick's teaching style is engaging & upbeat, combining practical Big 4 tax & assurance expertise with years of 1-on-1 coaching. His lessons are concise and emphasize what you need to know to pass. Whether you're a recent grad or working full-time, we’re confident you can conquer your CPA exams with Nick’s review.

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Let's talk about some acts that are discreditable to the profession. Let's not do these because we don't want to discredit the profession. We want to build up our profession and make it honorable. So let's see. The following acts are considered discreditable to the profession. If taken by a CPA, they're retaining the client records after the client demands them to be returned. Client records are their own property. So if you're not returning them and they say, give it back to me, that's a problem. Same. It's kind of the same thing with tax returns. And you'll see that in reg. If you're holding onto the client's tax return and not giving it to them, that's the property of the client. They paid for it. So you got to give it to them. Violating the code of conduct. It's a nice, nice general broad one. You just violate the code of conduct that we've seen throughout this lesson. That's a problem. That's discreditable to the profession. Committing fraud or dishonest acts. Now that's within the service you're providing or at all in general. I mean, if unrelated to the audits that you do for your day-to-day job, if you go and commit fraud and try to try to commit securities fraud, completely unrelated, that's discreditable to the profession. You'll probably get your license revoked. Engaging in illegal or unethical business practices. Make sense there, right? Don't do anything illegal. Failing to comply with professional standards. We will see professional standards in this own whole lesson. So if you fail to comply with those, that is going to be discreditable. And we'll talk about the consequences here in a second. Misrepresenting your qualifications or experience. If you try to say, oh, because I'm a CPA, I'm qualified to do

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Ethics & Independence

Module: 3 Concepts, 42 Videos

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct Overview

1:04

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct Objectives

2:42

Introduction to AICPA Code of Professional Conduct

1:55