AFM351 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Professional Code Of Quebec, Ethical Decision
28 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Who to speak first?
○
Bryan decides to first talk to his university classmates and learned that many firms are
aware of this practice and want to stamp it out because it reduces the ability of junior
employees to express themselves during engagements
○
Next, he talks confidentially to his provincial institute's peer support program and gains
information and a sense of support for his intended strategy to raise this issue with Karen
first
○
Armed with information, Bryan writes out an opening statement that clearly frames his
conversation with Karen as an opportunity for learning and moving towards best audit
practices
○
Often difficult to turn the decision into action○
Ethical decision making process- a methodological approach to resolving an ethical dilemma•
Decision makers are susceptible to judgement traps referred to as ethical blind spots -
unconscious judgement tendencies that can hinder the ethical decision making process or cause
the decision maker to fail to recognize the ethical dimension of a choice
•
Ethical blind spots
Both the professional judgement and ethical reasoning frameworks highlight that auditors'
decisions are made with consideration of rules of professional conduct
•
It serves members by setting standards the members must meet and providing a benchmark
against which to measure member's actions
•
The professional code of conduct in Canada is both principles based and compliance based•
Critics of a principles-based code highlight that principles are difficult to enforce because there are
no minimum standards of behaviour
•
Disadvantage is the tendency of some practitioners to define the rules as maximum rather
than minimum standards
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Second disadvantage is that some practitioners may view the code as the law and conclude
that if some action is not prohibited, it must be ethical
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The advantage of this compliance-based approach is that the association is able to enforce
minimum behaviour and performance standards
•
Professional guidance on ethical conduct
PA must be free of an influence, interest, or relationship that impairs professional judgement or
•
Independence
AFM 351 Page 11
Document Summary
Bryan decides to first talk to his university classmates and learned that many firms are aware of this practice and want to stamp it out because it reduces the ability of junior employees to express themselves during engagements. Next, he talks confidentially to his provincial institute"s peer support program and gains information and a sense of support for his intended strategy to raise this issue with karen first. Armed with information, bryan writes out an opening statement that clearly frames his conversation with karen as an opportunity for learning and moving towards best audit practices. Ethical decision making process- a methodological approach to resolving an ethical dilemma. Often difficult to turn the decision into action. Both the professional judgement and ethical reasoning frameworks highlight that auditors" decisions are made with consideration of rules of professional conduct. It serves members by setting standards the members must meet and providing a benchmark against which to measure member"s actions.
