Skip to main content
 This program is not active.
Live Webcast

Red Flags & the Inquisitive Accountant/Accountants' Non-Disclosure: Recent Cases & Controversies


Total Credits: 8 including 3 Accounting - Technical, 3 Auditing- Technical, 2 Regulatory Ethics - Technical

Average Rating:
   7
Categories:
Accounting and Auditing |  Ethics |  Partner Produced
Faculty:
Albert D. Spalding Jr.
Course Levels:
Basic
Duration:
8 Hours
License:
Product Setting: Expires 40 day(s) after program date.

Dates


Description

Although “inquisitiveness” is not explicitly required by the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, generally accepted auditing standards require a certain level of follow-up when "red flags" appear ... especially during an attestation engagement. The principles of integrity, honesty, and objectivity articulated in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct imply a certain level of curiosity, truth-seeking and inquisitiveness, but these ideals are often difficult to achieve when accountants are under the real pressures of time, budget and deadlines. This program considers these difficult accounting and ethics issues. Participants discuss actual court cases as they sort through these issues together.

Accounting is an art. It involves the abstraction and communication of information. The value of accounting information, in turn, is often discussed in terms of the extent of disclosure and transparency. All well and good, it seems, until someone decides that a particular set of financial statements is erroneous to the point of being misleading or deceptive. This program offers an overview of the theoretical notion of disclosure, followed by a discussion of recent cases and controversies where financial statements (and the accountants associated with them) and challenged in court. Theory tends to clash with practice in these cases. Participants are invited to sort out what is proper disclosure and what is not.

Basic Course Information

Learning Objectives
  • Inquisitiveness, especially as that virtue interacts with the realities of corporate and accounting firm budgets and profitability requirements
  • Practical applications will include real-life ethical dilemmas where the level of an accountant's inquisitiveness is challenged
  • Participants will gain new insights into the notion of disclosure as an idea and as a financial reporting principle
  • Practical applications will include the analysis of disclosure-related controversies where accountants in industry and in public accounting are challenged
  • Legal and licensure implications are also addressed

Major Subjects
  • Curiosity, Truth-seeking, and Inquisitiveness
  • Required” Inquisitiveness in Attestation Engagements
  • Inquisitiveness and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct
  • Recent Cases and Controversies
  • Accounting as Disclosure: Theory and Societal Significance
  • Basic Disclosure Accounting and Ethics Rules
  • Efforts to Increase Relevance in Financial Reporting
  • Recent Disclosure-Related Cases and Controversies

Course Materials

Faculty

Albert D. Spalding Jr. Related Seminars and Products

Associate Professor

Mike Illitch School of Business Administration, Wayne State University, Detroit


Albert “Bert” is an attorney-CPA and holds the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) designation from the AICPA.
Professor Spalding serves on the faculty of the Department of Accounting at the Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business…where he teaches business law, tax, forensic and fiduciary accounting -- as well as professional ethics -- in the MS in Accounting and MBA programs.
Bert Spalding has also served on the legal staff of the IRS National Office in Washington, D.C. where he drafted letter rulings, technical advice memoranda, revenue rulings and other pronouncements.
Dr. Spalding holds graduate degrees in accounting, law, psychology, philosophy and theology, and has authored several books and many journal articles on accounting, tax, legal and ethics-related topics. His popular SpaldingCPE seminars, webcasts and self-study courses on ethics and accounting topics are widely received around the State of Michigan as well as nationally.


Additional Info

Basic Course Information

Prerequisites None
Advanced Preparation None
Designed For
  • Professionals who are interested in stepping outside of the narrow confines of the Code of Professional Conduct and taking a fresh look at the professional duty of inquisitiveness
  • This program is designed for all accounting professionals, irrespective of background, specialization, or type of organization with which they are affiliated

Original Recording Date 05/24/2019
Yellow Book No
Course Developer MICPA
Date Added to Catalog 02/27/2019

Additional Information

Complaint Resolution Policy Please contact Anne Taylor for any complaints. anne.taylor@acpen.com, (972-377-8199).
Official Registry Statement Business Professionals' Network, Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org
Instructional Delivery Method Group Internet Based
Course Registration Requirements Online Registration
Refund/Cancellation Policy Please contact the ACPEN help desk 1-877-602-9877 or help@acpen.com if you wish to cancel your attendance for a previously purchased webcast and are requesting a refund or transfer.

Reviews

5
4
3
2
1

Overall:      4.4

Total Reviews: 7