Rick Stephan Hayes, Roger Dassen, Arnold Schilder, Philip Wallage

1. Ethics for Professional AccountantsPrinciples of Auditing: An Introduction to International Standards on Auditing - Ch. 3 Rick Stephan Hayes, Roger Dassen, Arnold Schilder, Philip Wallage

2. WHAT ARE ETHICS? • A sense of agreement in a society as to what is right and wrong. • Ethics represent a set of moral principles, rules of conduct or values. • Ethics apply when an individual has to make a decision from various alternatives regarding moral principles.

3. Illustration 3.1

4. Objectives of Accountantancy Profession • To work to the highest standards of professionalism • To attain the highest levels of performance • Generally, to meet the public’s interest

5. The Code is divided into three parts: A, B, and C (Not in Text): • Part Aestablishes the fundamental principles of professional ethics for professional accountants and provides a conceptual framework for applying those principles. • Parts B and Cillustrate how the conceptual framework is to be applied in specific situations. • Part B applies to professional accountants in public practice. • Part Capplies to professional accountants in business.

6. Figure 3.2 Not Applicable Any More

7. The IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants fundamental principles for ALL Accountants: 1) Integrity (Sec 110) 2) Objectivity (Sec 120) 3) Professional Competence and Due Care (Sec 130) 4) Confidentiality (Sec 140) 5) Professional Behavior (Sec 150)

8. Principles 1) Integrity A professional accountant should be straightforward and honest in performing professional services. 2) Objectivity: A professional accountant should not allow bias, conflict of interest or undue influence of others to override professional or business judgments.

9. Principles 3) Professional Competence and Due Care: A professional accountant has a continuing duty to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the level required to ensure that a client or employer receives competent professional service based on current developments in practice, legislation and techniques.

10. Principles 4) Confidentiality: A professional accountant should respect the confidentiality of information acquired as a result of professional and business relationships and should not disclose any such information to third parties without proper and specific authority. 5) Professional Behavior:A professional accountant should comply with relevant laws and regulations and should avoid any action that discredits the profession.

11. Conceptual Framework Approach • A conceptual framework requires a professional accountant to identify, evaluate and address threats to compliance with the fundamental principles, rather than merely comply with a set of specific rules which may be arbitrary. • If threats to ethics are not clearly insignificant, a professional accountant should apply safeguards to eliminate the threats or reduce them to an acceptable level.

12. ThreatsandSafeguards (no longer related just to Independence, but to ethics) Compliance with the fundamental principles may potentially be threatened by a broad range of circumstances. Many threats fall into the following categories: • Self-interest threats • Self-review threats • Advocacy threats • Familiarity threats • Intimidation threats

13. Figure 3.5

14. Self-Interest Threat A Self-interest threat occurs as a result of the financial or other interests of a professional accountant or of an immediate or close family member;

15. Self Interest Threats Circumstances (In Part B) • A financial interest in a client or jointly holding a financial interest with a client. • Undue dependence on total fees from a client. • Having a close business relationship with a client. • Concern about the possibility of losing a client. • Potential employment with a client. • Contingent feesrelating to an assurance engagement. • A loan to or from an assurance client or any of its directors or officers.

16. Self-Review Threat Self-Review Threat occurs occur when a previous judgment needs to be re-evaluated by the professional accountant responsible for that judgment.

17. Self-Review Threats Circumstances (In Part B) • The discovery of a significant error during a re-evaluation of the work of the public auditor. • Reporting on the operation of financial systems after being involved in their design or implementation. • Having prepared the original data used to generate records that are the subject matter of the engagement. • A member of the assurance team being, or having recently been, a director or officer of that client. • A member of the assurance team being, or having recently been, employed by the client in a position to exert direct and significant influence over the subject matter of the engagement. • Performing a service for a client that directly affects the subject matter of the assurance engagement.

18. Advocacy Threat An Advocacy Threatoccurs when a professional accountant promotes a position or opinion to the point that subsequent objectivity may be compromised. Examples of circumstances that create advocacy threats : Selling, underwriting or otherwise dealing in financial securities or shares of an assurance client; Acting as an advocate on behalf of an assurance client in litigation or disputes with third parties.

19. Familiarity Threat Familiarity Threatoccurs when, by virtue of a close relationship with an assurance client, its directors, officers or employees, an auditor becomes too sympathetic to the client’s interests.

20. Familiarity Threats Circumstances (In Part B) • Immediate familymember or close family member who is a director, officer, or influential employee of the assurance client; • A member of the assurance team having a close family member who, as an employee of the assurance client, is in a position to exert direct and significant influence over the subject matter of the engagement; • A former partner of the firm being a director, officer of the assurance client or an employee in a position of significant influence; • Long association of a senior member of the assurance team with the assurance client • Acceptance of gifts or hospitality, unless the value is clearly insignificant, from the assurance client, its directors, officers or employees.

21. Intimidation Threat Intimidation Threatoccur when a professional accountant may be deterred from acting objectively by threats, actual or perceived Examples of circumstances: • Being threatened with dismissal or replacement in relation to a client engagement. • Being threatened with litigation. • Being pressured to reduce inappropriately the extent of work performed in order to reduce fees.

22. Safeguards Safeguards that may eliminate or reduce such threats to an acceptable level fall into two broad categories: (1) Safeguards created by the profession, legislation or regulation; (2) Safeguards in the work environment.

23. Safeguards created by the profession, legislation or regulation include: • Educational, training and experience requirements for entry into the profession. • Continuing professional development requirements. • Corporate governance regulations. • Professional standards. • Professional or regulatory monitoring and disciplinary procedures • External review by a third party of the reports, returns, communications or information produced by a professional accountant.

24. Firm-wide safeguards in the work environment may include: • Leadership that stresses the importance of compliance with the fundamental principles and the duty to act in the public interest. • Quality control policies • Documented independence policies • Policies against reliance on revenue received from a single client.

25. Resolution of Ethical Conflicts 1. If the matter remains unresolved, the professional accountant should consult with other appropriate persons within the firm 2. Where a matter involves a conflict with, or within, an organization, consult with those charged with governance of the organization, such as the board of directors or the audit committee. 3. If a significant conflict cannot be resolved, obtain professional advice from the relevant professional body or legal advisors. 4. If, after exhausting all relevant possibilities, the ethical conflict remains unresolved, a professional accountant should, where possible, refuse to remain associated with the matter creating the conflict. .

26. PART B Contents

27. Professional Appointment • Client Acceptance - consider whether acceptance would create any threats to compliance with the fundamental principles • Engagement Acceptance - agree to provide only those services that the accountant is competent to perform.

28. Changes in a Professional Appointment Before accepting an appointment involving services that were carried out by another the proposed accountant should: • Request permission from the client to contact former auditor directly • Contact existing auditor before beginning audit.

29. Information from Existing Auditor • Once client permission is obtained, the existing accountant should provide information honestly and unambiguously. • If the proposed accountant is unable to communicate with the existing accountant, the proposed accountant should try to obtain information about any possible threats by other means such as through inquiries of third parties or background investigations on senior management. • The existing account is no longer required to provide information in writing or regarding reasons not to take an audit.

30. Conflicts of Interest An accountant should take reasonable steps to identify circumstances that could pose a conflict of interest.

31. Second Opinions • Providing a second opinion on the application of accounting, auditing, reporting or other standards or principles by or on behalf of a company that is not an existing client may cause threats to compliance with the fundamental principles • Safeguards such as seeking client permission to contact the existing accountant, describing the limitations surrounding any opinion and providing the existing accountant with a copy of the opinion may be required.

32. Fees and Other Types of Remuneration An auditor may quote whatever fee deemed to be appropriate. However, a self-interest threat to professional competence and due care is created if the fee quoted is so low that it may be difficult to perform the engagement.

33. Commissions, Referral Fees, and Contingent Fees • A accountant in public practice should not pay or receive a referral fee or commission, unless she has established safeguards to eliminate the threats or reduce them to an acceptable level. • Contingent fees are widely used for certain types of non-assurance engagements. They may, however, give rise to self-interest threats to compliance with the fundamental principles.

34. Advertising and Marketing When a professional accountant in public practice solicits new work through advertising or other forms of marketing, there may be potential threats to compliance with the fundamental principles.

35. What Advertising Cannot Do An accountant should not bring the profession into disrepute when marketing professional services. She should be honest and truthful and should not: • Make exaggerated claims for services offered, qualifications possessed or experience gained; or • Make disparaging references to unsubstantiated comparisons to the work of another.

36. Example of Bad Advertising “At our firm we believe the financial success of any business requires regular monitoring and attention to the smallest detail. Without the objective oversight of a practiced eye, huge opportunities can slip by unnoticed, and minor problems can quickly evolve into significant issues. That’s why the experts at our firm maintain a close relationship with our clients all year round, rather than merely reviewing financial records annually.”

37. Gifts and Hospitality • Self-interest threats to objectivity may be created if a gift from a client is accepted; intimidation threats to objectivity may result from the possibility of such offers being made public. • Gifts or hospitality which are acceptable are those which a reasonable and informed third party, having knowledge of all relevant information, would consider clearly insignificant.

38. Custody of Client Assets • To safeguard against a self interest threat to objectivity , a professional accountant in public practice entrusted with money (or other assets) belonging to others should: • Keep such assets separately from personal or firm assets; and • Use such assets only for the purpose for which they are intended • At all times, be ready to account for those assets, and any income, dividends or gains generated • Comply with all relevant laws and regulations relevant to the holding of and accounting for such assets

39. Objectivity – All Services • When providing any professional service the auditor should consider whether there are threats to compliance with the fundamental principle of objectivity resulting from having interests in, or relationships with, a client or directors, officers or employees. • In an assurance service the auditor is required to be independent of the assurance client. Independence of mind and in appearance is necessary to express a conclusion, and be seen to express a conclusion, without bias, conflict of interest or undue influence of others.

40. Independence—Assurance Engagements In the case of an assurance engagement it is in the public interest and, therefore, required by the Code of Ethics, that members of assurance teams, firms and, when applicable, network firms be independent of assurance clients

41. Independence • Independence involves independence in appearance and independence in mind. • Independence in Appearance: The avoidance of facts and circumstances that are so significant that a reasonable and informed third party, having knowledge of all relevant information, including safeguards applied, would reasonably conclude a firm’s, or a member of the assurance team’s, integrity, objectivity or professional skepticism had been compromised. • Independence of Mind The state of mind that permits the expression of a conclusion without being affected by influences that compromise professional judgment, allowing an individual to act with integrity, and exercise objectivity and professional skepticism.

42. Independence in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 TITLE II – AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE Sec. 201. Services outside the scope of practice of auditors. Sec. 202. Pre-approval requirements. Sec. 203. Audit partner rotation. Sec. 204. Auditor reports to audit committees. Sec. 205. Conforming amendments. Sec. 206. Conflicts of interest. Sec. 207. Study of mandatory rotation of registered public accounting firms. Sec. 208. Commission authority. Sec. 209. Considerations by appropriate State regulatory authorities.

43. Independence in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Prohibited non-audit service contemporaneously with the audit include: (1) bookkeeping or other services related to the accounting records or financial statements of the audit client; (2) financial information systems design and implementation; (3) appraisal or valuation services, fairness opinions, or contribution-in-kind reports; (4) actuarial services; (5) internal audit outsourcing services; (6) management functions or human resources; (7) broker or dealer, investment adviser, or investment banking services; (8) legal services and expert services unrelated to the audit; and (9) any other service that the Board determines, by regulation, is impermissible.

44. PCAOB Ethics and Independence rules concerning independence, tax services, and contingent fees (Not in Text) • Not independent if the audit firm provided any service or product to an audit client for a contingent fee or a commission. • Not independent if the firm provided assistance in planning, or provided tax advice on, certain types of potentially abusive tax transactions to an audit client or persons employed by that client and must seek audit committee approval for any tax services • Firms must be independent of their audit clients throughout the audit period

45. Part B of the Code illustrates how the conceptual framework contained in Part A is to be applied by professional accountants in public practice.

46. Examples Part B

49. Part C of the Code illustrates how the conceptual framework contained in Part A is to be applied by professional accountants in business.

50. Examples in Part C