Ethics for Texas CPAs – 4 Hours

The course opens with the ethical frameworks behind professional judgment — consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics — and shows how the same facts can lead to different conclusions depending on which lens you apply. It then turns to the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct at 22 TAC Chapter 501, read alongside the AICPA Code, with attention to where the two differ and the stricter provision governs. It closes on ethics in practice: the rationalizations that precede misconduct, the warning signs of an organization heading for ethical collapse, and the help available through the Accountants Confidential Assistance Network.

The Texas rules, covered section by section:

• Integrity and objectivity — §501.73
• Independence — §501.70
• Competence — §501.74
• Confidential client communications — §501.75
• Records and work papers — §501.76
• Contingency and referral fees — §501.71–.72
• Advertising and firm names — §501.82–.83
• The practice of public accountancy — §501.80
• The eighteen categories of discreditable acts — §501.90

Also covered: the seven threats framework, conflicts of interest, subordination of judgment, and client advocacy.

The material is built on real cases — WorldCom, HealthSouth, the fraud at Buca Inc., the mortgage crisis, Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Scott London insider-trading case at KPMG, and the embezzlement at Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana. The emphasis is on what upholds the intent of the rules, not merely technical compliance.

Written for Texas CPAs in every practice setting — client practice, industry, education and government.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the three normative ethical frameworks — consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics — and apply each to an ethical dilemma of the kind a Texas CPA encounters in practice.
2. Recognize the intent behind the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, as distinct from mere technical compliance with them.
3. Apply ethical judgment in interpreting those rules to determine where the public interest lies, and place the public interest ahead of self-interest even at the cost of a job or a client.
4. Determine how the Rules of Professional Conduct apply across different practice settings, including CPAs in client practice performing attest and non-attest services, CPAs in industry providing internal accounting and auditing services, and CPAs in education or government.