Ethics for Florida 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 Florida’s own framework, being Chapter 473 of the Florida Statutes on public accountancy, the general provisions at Chapter 455 governing business and professional regulation, and the Code of Professional Conduct at Division 61H1 of the Florida 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 Florida material covers the composition and authority of the Board of Accountancy and the penalties available to it, including administrative fines and the consequences of unlicensed practice. It works through the rules that carry the most practical weight for a Florida licensee: integrity and objectivity under Rule 61H1-21.002; independence under section 473.315 and Rule 61H1-21.001, including the Board’s own Standards for Determining Independence; permitted forms of practice, fictitious names and firm licensure; advertising; competence and the general standards; continuing education and peer review; confidential client information and the accountant-client privilege; the responsibility to return client records; contingent fees, commissions and referral fees under sections 473.319 and 473.3205 and the corresponding rules; practice privileges for CPAs licensed in other states; and the grounds for disciplinary proceedings under section 473.323 and section 455.227.

On the AICPA side, the course works through independence and the seven threats framework, subordination of judgment, conflicts of interest, knowing misrepresentation, client advocacy, confidential client information, 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 Florida practice.

Three appendices reproduce the source law in full: Florida Statutes Chapter 473, Florida Statutes Chapter 455, and Division 61H1 of the Florida Administrative Code.

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 Florida law that pertains to CPAs licensed to practise in the state of Florida, including the Florida Statutes, the Administrative Rules and 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.