For your Portfolio Project, you are to design a detailed proposal for a training program in ethics for accountants working in a wide range of areas. The proposal should be written from the perspective...

Introduction
This ethics training program which will be looked into through the scope of this
proposal will be aimed at educating as well as training the accountants of the public
accounting firm regarding various topics and factors related to ethics; professional judgment
and decision making; fraud prevention; rules, regulations, and liabilities; financial reporting;
and international accounting issues..
It is of utmost importance for any company operating in the cu
ent day business
environment to ensure that they follow the ethical guidelines for the company. If there is any
violation of the ethical guidelines by the employees or the decision making of the company,
the same leads to a lot of reputation loss and thus loss of profitability and sustenance of the
company.
Hence it is very important for the accountants of the public accounting firm to
develop a strong understanding of the factors related to business ethics to ensure that they can
follow the guidelines without any fail.
Environment
Public accounting firms are the ones which are registered with the Public Accounting
Oversight Board for providing services related to accounting activities for the public
companies. In view of the fact the public accounting firms are entrusted with the task of
auditing the public companies which are usually run with the money of the taxpayers, it is
even more important for the companies to follow the ethical guideline fairly strictly.
The companies of this nature are also governed by the Sa
anes-Oxley Act of 2002
which prohibits any company which is not registered with the board from preparing,
furnishing, or participating in an audit of a public company.
The public accountants are the employees who render professional services including
the following to the clients for a fee (Armstrong, 1993):
 assurance and
 taxation service.
Hence the importance of various topics and factors related to ethics; professional
judgment and decision making; fraud prevention; rules, regulations, and liabilities; financial
eporting; and international accounting issues are very important to be followed. Also the
global trend of accounting calls for showing importance towards the ethical activities for the
employees. It has become of utmost importance for the professionals in the accounting to be
ethical in their activities and practices in view of the fact that the very nature of their
profession demands the same. Accountants’ work nature has been able to put them into a
specific position of trust with respect to the following stakeholders (Mills, 2003):
 The clients,
 The employers and
 The general public
Also in view of the fact the various stakeholders rely on the guidance as well as
professional judgment of the accounting experts for taking decisions, it is important that these
individuals are following the defined rules and guidelines. Also the decisions made in turn
affect the allocation of resources for the companies or the economies as a whole. For this
eason a great deal of reliance are given towards the accountants due to the professional
statures and required ethical standards. Hence the very important factor for maintaining the
clients as well as the publics’ confidence is professional and ethical conducts by the
individuals. These also lead to the importance of ethical environment in the accounting
industry (Hoffman, 1996).
Purpose and goals of the Training program
This ethics training program will aim to provide the guidance of ethical issues in
accounting. After training, accountants should be able to make good decisions and
appropriate responsible actions while in the work.
The objective of the training will be to ensure a very high level of ethical standards
which will be necessary for the public accountants as well as for the accountants in business
who are employed in a public sector organisation or private sector organisation. Both types of
the accountants and especially the public accountants are in a fiduciary relationship with the
clients as well as the employers.
In this kind of association, they have the accountability for making sure that the duties
which are being performed by the accountants are conforming to the ethical values of
integrity, honesty, due care, objectivity, confidentiality, and the commitment to the public
interest before one’s own. All of these will be looked into through the scope of this raining
program. Hence the accountants will be expected to maintain a level of ethical conduct as
professionals post the successful conduction of this training.
The training will also have an objective of providing the accountants with a
ackground of the code of professional conduct which has been developed by the
professional accounting bodies through setting standards or rules which define the right from
the wrong for making sure that the behaviour of the members comply with the perceived
expectations from the other stakeholders including the public related to the standards of the
ethics.
Scope
There have been few recent example of involvement of the accountants in some well
known and large corporate scandals. These examples show and reflect that the companies
have failed to comply with the ethical standards which are...