AICPA CPC and Jurisdiction
The following principles and rules apply to certified public accountants (CPAs) in the
practice of a public accounting firm as previously described.
AICPA CPC Principles
The principles of the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct include the following
(Ethics and Independence, 2011):
Responsibilities that require that CPAs carry out their duties as professionals
exercising ethical and moral judgment in all aspects of their activities are
present.
Public interest trust is a principle of obligation to behave and demonstrate
professionalism and commitment to their trade.
Integrity is to be demonstrated in all aspects of their professional
responsibilities with the ultimate purpose of maintaining and broadening public
confidence.
CPAs are to remain independent and avoid conflict of interest situations in all
their duties and responsibilities.
They must exercise due care by members and observe standards of ethics and
professional technical nature in the continued strive for competence
improvement and quality of services.
Scope and nature of services should be limited to those regarding auditing the
financial statements, accounting, tax, financial planning, and litigation support
services.
AICPA CPC Rules
The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct rules are similar and include most of the
principles as described above but go beyond covering issues such as contingency and
referral fees, organization forms, and solicitation guidelines, which are geared
primarily to guide public accounting firms as responsible and ethical organizations
(Standards, 2011).
AICPA Jurisdiction
The AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee governs those CPAs that are in
its membership. But even if this committee extends its coverage to those accountants in
corporate, government, academia, and law, it must be CPA members of either the state
CPA societies or the AICPA for the committee to have jurisdiction over the member.
It is therefore imperative to recognize that not all, but only a percentage of, accountants
are CPAs. Most accountants working in corporations, government entities, nonprofits,
and law firms are not CPAs. Therefore, they are not required to follow the AICPA
CPC (intended to govern only CPAs primarily in the public accounting practice), nor
are they required to following the SEC ethical requirements.
It is very important to recognize that the rest of accountants—which are the majority—
are not governed by any of the rigorous codes of ethics and conduct presented here.
The question then remains as to which professional organization governs accountants
in these other professional arenas. The answer is that there is really no overarching
code, but the only one that applies is the code of ethics of the CPA's respective
organization.
Therefore, the code of ethics of each company then governs all accountants (not just
CPAs), and it is imperative that these codes of ethics of each entity (other than public
accounting firms) are properly set up and mirror those guidelines established by the
SEC, the SOX Act, and the AICPA.
References
Ethics and independence. (2011). Retrieved from the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants Web site:
http://aicpa.org./InterestAreas/CenterForAuditQuality/Resources/CAQAuditLib
rary
Standards. (2011). Retrieved from the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants Web
site: http://www.aicpa.org/RESEARCH/STANDARDS/Pages/default.aspx