Professionals in many fields must regularly complete ethics continuing education to remind them of their responsibility to honor the trust placed in them. Many professional organizations have a Code of Ethics. For CPAs, the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct provides guidance and rules for all members. This course, based on the AICPA Code, discusses general ethics, the importance of ethics in professional and personal behavior, and the principles and rules of the Code. It includes case studies to help apply the information.

• identify reasons that practicing CPAs should continue to study ethics
• identify the two main actions that together comprise moral behavior
• identify the three core values of the accounting profession
• identify the four basic responsibilities outlined as General Standards of the Profession
• given a series of different scenarios, correctly recognize situations in which a CPA may depart from the generally accepted accounting principles when preparing a client’s financial statements
• identify circumstances in which a CPA may disclose confidential client information without contravening the rules of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.