ethics education in u. s. accounting practice – a status report（道德教育在美国会计实务u2014u2014一个状态报告）.pdfVIP

Allied Academies International Conference page 7 ETHICS EDUCATION IN U. S. ACCOUNTING PRACTICE – A STATUS REPORT Homer L. Bates, University of North Florida Bobby E. Waldrup, University of North Florida bwaldrup@ Charles H. Calhoun III, University of North Florida ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this descriptive article is to examine the current state of ethics education and training of U. S. accounting practitioners. Accounting ethics requirements for U. S. accounting practitioners with the designations of Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), or Certified Management Accountant (CMA) were examined in four different ways. First, the ethics education requirements necessary to take each of the examinations were examined. Second, an examination was made of the required ethics content on the qualifying examinations for these designations. Next, the ethics requirements necessary for certification after successfully completing the examinations were determined. Finally, the Continuing Professional Education (CPE) (Continuing Professional Development (CPD)) requirements necessary to maintain the certifications were examined. The results indicate that there is little emphasis on ethics in the qualifications, testing, and continuing education of certified accountants in the United States. INTRODUCTION Accounting problems with U. S. companies Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Xerox, HealthSouth, Merck, Adelphia Communications, and the dismantling of Arthur Andersen resulted in an increased discussion of accounting ethics in the United States and the enactment of the Sarb