What Makes A Cpa Firm? A Competitive Professional Field, And The Most Cpa Firms?

One of the advantages to being a CPA within a large firm is that you have the opportunity to work in many areas of accounting for many varied company clients. This will give me a multifaceted experience level not easily obtained while working independently or for a smaller firm. I hope to have the opportunity to do some forensic accounting work where I would prove suspected embezzlement within a client’s company (S. Westfield, personal interview, August 1, 2008).

| The firm recommended an aggressive tax position to the client that is more likely than not to be legally allowed.

The Chartered Accounting profession of South Africa is one of the most esteemed professions in the world, due to the enhancement and maintenance thereof by the South African accounting institutions (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, 2011). This essay will discuss the Chartered Accounting profession in South Africa by referring to the professionalisation of accountancy in South Africa and the professional status of Chartered Accountancy in terms of the definition of a profession. This essay will furthermore explore the mechanisms that are inaugurated at present by the South African accounting institutions to maintain the professionalism of Chartered Accountancy.

Accountants are held to a higher ethical standards and they must performed their duties in compliance with standards or ethical values of honesty, integrity, objectivity, due care, confidentiality, which must be fully committed to. They must put clients or public interest first before their own. They must have and ethical values and maintain those values way beyond what the society or the company’s code of ethic. It is important that accountants’ behavior or ethical values is in conformity with the

.01 As professionals, certified public accountants perform an essential role in society. Consistent with that role, members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants have responsibilities to all those who use their professional services. Members also have a continuing responsibility to cooperate with each other to improve the art of accounting, maintain the public 's confidence, and carry out the profession 's special responsibilities for self-governance. The collective efforts of all members are required to maintain and enhance the traditions of the profession.

The Model of Trust Enhancement was established to enhance and maintain the public’s trust in the accounting profession. Over the last two decades, the ethics of the accounting profession has been questioned and public trust destabilized, in particular for auditors, due to the Enron debacle. The fact that an auditing firm would assist their clients with publishing an inadequate set of financial statements shows their willingness to violate laws and regulations (Sims & Brinkmann, 2003). According to the textbook, “Because trust is essential, even the appearance of an accountant’s honesty and integrity is important. The auditor, therefore, must not only be trustworthy, but he or she must also appear trustworthy” (Duska, Duska & Ragatz, 2011, p. 116). The majority of statements filed inadequately have a substantial impact on the credibility of the accounting profession as a whole. Sullivan (n.d.10) states that a CPA must possess a high level of trust, by applying professional judgment and enhancing the three trustworthy characteristics (ability, benevolence, and integrity) when resolving accounting ethics dilemmas (slide 3).

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct principles prevents vises such as fraud that are experienced in accountancy field. Audit is the best measure of the effect of the fraud that are imposed to investors by accountants. The relationship of the investors and account holders are supposed to be affirmed through auditing to ensure accounting principles are upheld(Weirich, Pearson, & Churyk, 2010). Improper loss of the funds through propagation of the accountant officer should be treated as fraud and criminal activity that should lead to prosecution. Therefore, the paper seeks to relate two fraud cases that have been audited and presenting AICPA Code of

As the Independent Auditor I would require from Pinnacle, the client a Management Representation Letter. This is a letter an auditor is required to obtain from management at the conclusion of fieldwork, confirming representations explicitly or implicitly given to the auditor, indicating and documenting the continuing appropriateness of such representations, and reducing the possibility of misunderstanding regarding the representations.

Imagine trusting your hard-earned money like your retirement savings to a financial adviser or Certified Public Accountants (CPA) only to lose it all in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. In today’s world of business many organizations, financial planners and accountants are in the news due to the financial ethical breaches that have affected their customers, employees, and the general public. A CPA has to be responsible for their audits and take any punishments as a result of their mistakes, incompetence or illegal actions. CPAs are expected to have integrity in their work,

The auditing firm has been in engagement with the company throughout the period when the fraud was being committed. One of the common and clear indicators of possible fraud was the company’s cash flow statement. The company experienced positive growth in its profits from the year 1996 through to the year 1998. However, a close analysis of the cash flow statement shows that the company had experienced negative figures of cash flow from both operating and investing activities and positive cash flow from financing activities which would not sufficiently offset the negative cash flows from operating and investing. It is therefore evident

In the accounting world, one’s qualifications, expertise, and reputations are extremely important aspects and should all be taken into consideration when choosing a firm.

Integrity might cause problems in this case as the main persons in this organization are family members and there are also family members with high functions in the bank and JRW Realty with which Prefab has close business relations. Moreover, the members of the audit and compensation committee are not all independent of the firm and therefore, the likelihood of fraud or material misstatements in the financial statements is quite high. The profitability of the engagement to the auditor should be considered as well. Due to the extensive investigation the auditor has to do, especially due to the relationships between the people at the top management and the independence of the audit and compensation committee, the profitability might be a concern. Furthermore, from the analysis of the business risks of accepting the audit it can be concluded that there are several severe problem areas in which fraud or material misstatements in the financial statements can take place. At the Prefab Sprout Company the risk of fraud or material misstatements is considered to be very high and therefore, the engagement should not be accepted.

Read and summarize the article, "Client Engagement Risks and the Auditor Search Period," by Khalil, Cohen, and Schwartz in Accounting Horizons, Volume 25, Number 4 (2011), pp. 685 - 702.

With professions having this tremendous knowledge regarding a company’s financial standing and not being able to disclose the information to the public it can create major investment errors. With these restrictions in place by the AICPA the accountants and auditors “… in a position of having to choose between earning a livelihood or making a proper ethical choice” (Synder, 2011).

What draws me into the field of accountancy? Why do I want to launch a career as a certified public accountant (CPA)? What is there about numbers, spreadsheets, profit and loss statements, audits, inventory and fiduciary responsibility that appeal me? In this paper I will describe in detail the reasons why I am attracted to this field. Also, what are the duties and responsibilities of a CPA? How available are job openings for a person with the education and experience to work as a CPA? How well to companies compensate those hired as CPAs? These questions and issues will be thoroughly reviewed in this paper.