Question

4-22 (Objectives 4-5 , 4-7) Each of the following situations involves a possible violation of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. For each situation, state the applicable rule of conduct and whether it is a violation.

1. Emrich, CPA, provides tax services, management advisory services, and bookkeeping services and also conducts audits for the same nonpublic client. Because the firm is small, the same person often provides all the services.

2. Steve Custer, CPA, set up a casualty and fire insurance agency to complement his auditing and tax services. He does not use his own name on anything pertaining to the insurance agency and has a highly competent manager, Jack Long, who runs it. Custer often requests Long to review the adequacy of a client’s insurance with management if it seems underinsured. He believes that he provides a valuable service to clients by informing them when they are underinsured.

3. Seven small Seattle CPA firms have become involved in an information project by taking part in an interfirm working paper review program. Under the program, each firm designates two partners to review the audit files, including the tax returns and the financial statements, of another CPA firm taking part in the program. At the end of each review, the auditors who prepared the working papers and the reviewers have a conference to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the audit. They do not obtain authorization from the audit client before the review takes place.

4. Franz Marteens is a CPA, but not a partner, with three years of professional experience with Roberts and Batchelor, CPAs. He owns 25 shares of stock in an audit client of the firm, but he does not take part in the audit of the client, and the amount of stock is not material in relation to his total wealth.

5. A nonaudit client requests assistance of M. Wilkenson, CPA, in the installation of a local area network. Wilkenson has no experience in this type of work and no knowledge of the client’s computer system, so he obtains assistance from a computer consultant. The consultant is not in the practice of public accounting, but Wilkenson is confident of his professional skills. Because of the highly technical nature of the work, Wilkenson is not able to review the consultant’s work.

6. In preparing the personal tax returns for a client, Sarah Milsaps, CPA, observed that the deductions for contributions and interest were unusually large. When she asked the client for backup information to support the deductions, she was told, “Ask me no questions, and I will tell you no lies.” Milsaps completed the return on the basis of the information acquired from the client.

7. Roberta Hernandez, CPA, serves as controller of a U.S.-based company that has a significant portion of its operations in several South American countries. Certain government provisions in selected countries require the company to file financial statements based on international standards. Roberta oversees the issuance of the company’s financial statements and asserts that the statements are based on international financial accounting standards; however, the standards she uses are not those issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.

8. Archer Ressner, CPA, stayed longer than he should have at the annual holiday party of Ressner and Associates, CPAs. On his way home he drove through a red light and was stopped by a police officer, who observed that he was intoxicated. In a jury trial, Ressner was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol. Because this was not his first offense, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and his driver’s license was revoked for one year.

Answer 1