Ethics for Utah CPAs – 4 Hours

A CPA is challenged in today’s work world not only to serve a client or employer, but also to protect the public interest by ensuring transparency in financial reporting and the fair administration of the tax laws. In balancing those two duties, a CPA can find themselves in a genuine ethical dilemma.

This four-hour course works through that tension in three stages. Part I sets out the ethical frameworks that underpin professional judgment — consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics — and shows how a CPA’s conclusion can shift depending on which lens is applied. Part II turns to the rules themselves: the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct alongside the Utah Certified Public Accountant Licensing Act at Title 58, Chapter 26a of the Utah Code and the Licensing Act Rule at Section R156-26a of the Utah Administrative Code. Part III closes with putting ethics into action — the rationalizations that precede misconduct, the warning signs of an organization on the verge of ethical collapse, and what it takes to rebuild moral character after a lapse.

The Utah material covers the composition and powers of the Board of Accountancy, when a Utah licence is required and which exemptions apply to out-of-state practitioners, continuing education and peer review requirements, the privity limitation on third-party liability, ownership of records and working papers, and the grounds for denial of a licence together with the statutory definitions of unlawful and unprofessional conduct. On the AICPA side, the course works through integrity and objectivity, independence and the seven threats framework, subordination of judgment, conflicts of interest, confidential client information, contingent fees and commissions, records requests, and acts discreditable to the profession.

Throughout, the material is built on case studies drawn from real events, including WorldCom, HealthSouth, the fraud at Buca Inc., the 2007–2010 mortgage crisis, Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Scott London insider-trading case at KPMG, and the embezzlement at Collin Street Bakery, alongside hypothetical fact patterns set in Utah practice. The emphasis is on determining the course of action that upholds the intent of the rules, not merely technical compliance with them.

Two appendices reproduce the source law in full: the Certified Public Accountant Licensing Act at Utah Code Title 58, Chapter 26a, and the Certified Public Accountant Licensing Act Rule at Utah Administrative Code Section R156-26a.

Learning objectives

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

1. Apply the ethics of professional accounting as CPAs through the analysis of case studies involving both actual situations and hypothetical facts.
2. Apply ethical judgment in interpreting the rules and determining the public interest, recognising that the public interest should be placed ahead of self-interest even at the cost of a job or a client.
3. Analyze and apply the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and the Utah law that pertains to CPAs licensed to practise in the state of Utah, including the Utah State Code, the Administrative Rules and the Code of Professional Conduct, and the policies adopted by the Board currently in effect.
4. Determine the course of action that would uphold the intent of the rules in the performance of professional accounting services, rather than mere technical compliance with those rules.
5. Determine how the rules apply across different practice settings, including CPAs who provide assurance, attest or compilation services and CPAs who provide tax services.