AICPA and Ohio Accountancy Board’s
Code of Professional Conduct.
2. Relative to most people, CPAs are fairly smart and have power in the organization. But power often results in wrong decisions. Really smart people do really stupid stuff. If smart people didn’t do dumb stuff, Elliot Spitzer would still be the governor of New
York. People with a sense of power are overconfi dent in their abilities and consistently reject advice, leading to suboptimal decisions.
3. Illusionary superiority is a cognitive bias where people overestimate their positive qualities and underestimate their negative qualities. Multiple studies have shown that powerful people deceive themselves into decisions which are consistently worse than those made by people who feel less powerful but accept advice.3
4. Subordinating your judgment. Usually to a more powerful person, such as a boss or client, or obtain or maintain the status quo, such as your lifestyle or position in the entity. What’s subordinating your judgment? If you would do something different if you weren’t being pressured.
5. CPAs simply don’t know the ethics requirements and prohibitions; which will be the focus of this article.
ET Section 91 Applicability
Paragraph .01 says the bylaws of the AICPA require members to comply with the Code of Professional Conduct. As you digest the rules and violations, remember that the introduction to the revisions reads, “A member who departs from interpretations or rulings shall have the burden of justifying such departure in any disciplinary hearing.”
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