CGA加拿大注册会计师Ethics Standard Setting

　　1993年，为了帮助和促进会计行业在中加两国的发展，培养下一代会计师，以促进全球会计事业的发展，CGA在加拿大国家发展署的资助下进入中国，并在这期间逐渐热门，高顿网校小编为想要了解Ethics Standard Setting的同学介绍一下：
 

　　The ethics efforts of standard setters around the world are being led by IFAC’s International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), which recently proposed a new strategic plan for 2008-09. The plan includes finishing two major projects currently in the pipeline: revising the independence requirements related to the provision of internal audit services to audit clients, economic dependence on assurance clients, and the independence implications of contingent fees; and dealing with the exposure draft released in December 2006 proposing revisions to the IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
 

　　That exposure draft’s proposals include expanding the applicability of partner rotation requirements; updating requirements for the provision of non-assurance services, including setting out additional guidance on the provision of tax services to audit clients; and extending the independence requirements to the audits of a wider range of entities, including entities of significant public interest.
 

　　CGA-Canada doesn’t entirely agree with those proposed revisions, says Dawn McGeachy, senior associate, public practice, who helped prepare the CGA response to the exposure draft. “There is insufficient evidence to support a positive cost-benefit to many of the new requirements, and we are concerned that we are adding more stringent requirements without there being a genuine need for them within the assurance sector,” she explains. “The timing for implementation is also a concern as many jurisdictions are still grappling with the implementation of the original requirements and now are faced with a host of new ones.” Finally, she notes, “the new proposals adopt a very rules-based approach even though IFAC has always endorsed a principles-based approach. This is a disturbing trend.”
 

　　But McGeachy stresses that CGA-Canada supports IESBA ethics standards overall. “We believe a strong code of ethics facilitates one of the recognized cornerstones of the profession: trust and integrity.”
 

　　She describes CGA-Canada’s Code of Ethical Principles and Rules of Conduct as very stringent and notes that the consequences of not meeting it can be severe. The Code of Ethical Principles provides the ethical standards CGAs rely on to make professional judgments, while the Rules of Conduct provide clear statements of required or prohibited behaviour in specific situations. “They are appropriate in areas in which the standard of acceptable behaviour is either vague or sufficiently important to formulate a written standard,” McGeachy says.
 

　　McDonald, who created the Ethics Reading Handbook that forms the basis of ethics education for budding CGAs, points out that the code provides a way of articulating a social consensus among CGAs about the meaning of values such as impartiality, independence, and integrity. “By contrast, imagine that we are in a situation where the interpretation of integrity or impartiality was purely an individual matter. In all likelihood, these terms would become meaningless in the eyes of other accountants, clients, employers, and the public. This does not mean there won’t be grey areas in which reasonable people agree to differ, but it does mean there will be consensus about areas that are more black and white.”
 

　　“As a professional organization, CGA-Canada has the legal right to control entrance into the profession and to formulate standards of behaviour governing its members,” McGeachy adds. “In return for this right, CGAs are expected to act in the best interest of society and its members. To fulfil this responsibility, professionals must have a number of important character traits, as well as the skill to make expert technical and moral judgments. While we cannot legislate ethical behaviour, we can certainly mandate what is acceptable. If our members fail to act in accordance with established criteria, they are subject to discipline, sanction, or expulsion.”
 

　　To ensure ethics become an integral part of a CGA’s mindset, CGA-Canada has incorporated an ethics component into every module of its education program. “This approach is superior,” McGeachy says, “because rather than trying to capture all of the facets of principles, ethics, and integrity into one course, you are encouraged to consider these issues each time you complete a course in the program of professional studies. This improves comprehension, retention of the materials, and also makes you more aware of the issues when you encounter them during your formative professional years.”
 

　　ACCA has adopted a similar program. Blewitt notes that ethics is at the heart of ACCA’s new professional qualification, which will be examined for the first time in December. “We’ve adopted a holistic approach, through our exams syllabus – which incorporates ethics into individual topics – as well as our practical experience requirements and a new Professional Ethics module. We’ve aimed to enhance our members’ ethics knowledge, develop their ethical sensitivity, improve their ethical judgment, and help them maintain an ongoing commitment to ethical behaviour.”
 

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