Defining Professional Ethics for NY CPAs
The most comprehensive synthesis of ideas and concepts on professional ethics for individual CPAs licensed in New York.
Introduction
I believe that, as a profession, we are unclear about what ethical decision-making is. In order to make ethical decisions, we first need to define ethics.
The lack of an agreed-upon definition of ethics makes it difficult for those with good intentions to make ethical decisions.
I’m not talking about the people who don’t care about the rules. I’m talking about the ones who are sincere about following them. They operate in the “gray area” by default.
So, with that being said, there are two ways that you can end up operating in the “gray area.”
One way is what I just described: by default.
The second is when others are held to a different standard than you are, and you need to decide if you agree with the standard you are being held to and what you will do with the knowledge of this inconsistency.