Essay On Chartered Accountancy In South Africa

Accountants play an important role in the world of business. The article, “The Future of the Accounting Profession and the Value of the CPA.”, illustrates the importance of the accounting profession and the challenges that accountants face. With over ten years of experience working in the areas of finance and office management, I have personal experience with various influences in the accounting world that were discussed in the article. This includes topics such as technological advancements, the merits of networking & mentorship, the value of obtaining a CPA designation, accountancy education, and work-life balance (WLB). The accounting profession continues to evolve alongside social trends and corporate developments, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and crowdfunding.

The organization sets U.S. auditing and ethical standards for privately held companies, not-for profit organizations, federal, state, and local governments. It represents the CPA profession by serving ? as an advocate before legislative bodies, public interest groups and other professional organizations? (aicpa.org). Its creation established accountancy as a profession and distinguishes itself by demanding scholastic requirements, high professional accountancy principles, a stringent code of professional ethics and an obligation to serving the public

Legitimacy in accounting practices is ensured by the check and balance of having independent auditors from registered public accountant firms reviewing financial practices. The report features eleven sections and these sections pertain to accounting overview, independence of auditors to reduce interest conflicts, corporate responsibility, financial disclosures, tax returns, criminal fraud and various elements of white collar criminal activity (107th Congress

At the end of the last century, accountants began to organize and become a profession as state societies and boards of accounting debuted. At that time a few companies began to issue financial statements; however, there were no established standards, codes of ethics, or generally accepted principles. Practitioners wishing to represent the economic reality of an entity had to rely on professional judgement. Over time, the profession evolved so that committiees emerged to address these issues, and practitioners voluntarily abided by their guidance.

.01 As professionals, certified public accountants perform an essential role in society. Consistent with that role, members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants have responsibilities to all those who use their professional services. Members also have a continuing responsibility to cooperate with each other to improve the art of accounting, maintain the public 's confidence, and carry out the profession 's special responsibilities for self-governance. The collective efforts of all members are required to maintain and enhance the traditions of the profession.

The field of accounting is constantly evolving. This is true not only for the theory of accounting itself but also the entities that govern its theory and practice. Presently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are faced with some of the biggest challenges to date. To understand the significance of these two boards, it is necessary to understand their histories, relations between the boards, and the standards that they set. Also how the knowledge of these boards and the field they lead, gained through the masters of science in accountancy

The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) redrafted the standards for clarity and reorganized all of the auditing sections (AU) into new one adding C after (AU-C), bringing both significant and subtle changes. For some of the standards only the format changed but others significantly impacted the auditor’s work. This project was very important for the globalization

Section 50 of the AICPA code of Professional conduct membership for certified public accountant is voluntary. By being a member of this organization, members are obliged to have high ethical values and follow the rules and regulations. These laws are set to evaluate their performance of their professional responsibilities and express the basic tenets of ethical and professional conduct. Accountants must be always professional always. There are many attributes that can describe being professional. Accountant must be trustworthy and this can go a very long way. The perception of the public is very important since accountant must be a truth teller and be a great communicator to give clear and non-confliction information to the clients, employers or the society.

AICPA Code of Professional Conduct principles prevents vises such as fraud that are experienced in accountancy field. Audit is the best measure of the effect of the fraud that are imposed to investors by accountants. The relationship of the investors and account holders are supposed to be affirmed through auditing to ensure accounting principles are upheld(Weirich, Pearson, & Churyk, 2010). Improper loss of the funds through propagation of the accountant officer should be treated as fraud and criminal activity that should lead to prosecution. Therefore, the paper seeks to relate two fraud cases that have been audited and presenting AICPA Code of

1) Hahn Company uses the percentage of sales method for recording bad debts expense. For the year, cash sales are $300,000 and credit sales are $1,200,000. Management estimates that 1% is the sales percentage to use. What adjusting entry will Hahn Company make to record the bad debts expense?

Over the past decade the world has been taken by surprise by the numerous accounting scandals that have occurred, for example, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Xerox, and Global Crossing (Suyanto, 2009, p. 118). Since those accounting scandals occurred the United States Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) to help improve a company’s corporate governance and help deter fraud (Chinniah, 2015, p.2). In addition to SOX, the Accounting Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) passed the Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 99 (p. 118). Both of these new accounting laws help to deter financial statement fraud from occurring.

Audit planning details change from client to client, no matter the complications presented. Each evolution of society’s business world prompts rule makers to update authoritative accounting standards in order to allow for changes, auditors are then responsible to certify their client’s financial reports adhere within compliance according to current authoritative standards. Many cite the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 as being legislation that has had the most profound impact on the auditing profession; incidentally, an auditor’s job is to certify financial statements are a fair representation of a company’s financial position, at a given point in time, using current acceptable standards. Society deems auditors as gatekeepers and expects the auditing profession to find and report fraud, prevent fraud, and make certain financial statements are true, fair representation of a company’s financial position. Even though the rules, regulations, and generally accepted accounting principles can sometimes be difficult to find and translate, the public expects auditors to prevent events such as those that sparked SOX. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) developed the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) that became the authoritative source July 2009 (FASB, 2009). Perhaps the hardest impact auditors experience with FASB ASC is attempting to ascertain clients’ FASB ASC references in disclosures on financial statements; “management cannot delegate this function to the

Ethics in any industry is important, but for Accounting professionals and those in need of their services, it is a particularly stressed element. Information provided by accountants is used to make major decisions, including investing, downsizing, expanding, etc, so accountants are expected to be competent, reliable, and have a high degree of professional integrity. Because of these high expectations, the professional accountancy industry, like many other professions, has adopted professional codes of ethics (Woelfel, 1986). These ethical codes go above and beyond the requirements for state or federal laws and regulations. There are several professional organizations within the

Chartered accountants are therefore expected to display professionalism in their work so that they are able to maintain public confidence in the companies. This is a result of the accountants reporting the true performance of the companies they represent (Radebaugh & et al, 2012).

Accounting is the language of business. It is a profession that is being guided by principles, concepts, conventions, laws, etc. All these fundamental building blocks serve as common and general compasses to all practitioners of the profession. In some cases, they are nation-wide tailored, while in other cases, they are universally tailored. Accounting as a living, practical, dynamic and realistic profession covers so many areas of social, economic (business), and governmental activities. Surely, any endeavour that involves monetary and material activities create a room for the services of Accounting. Many of the human endeavours for which the accounting profession plays significant (some times inevitable) roles include; Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Farming Contracting, Oil and Gas, Mining, Transportation (Air, Land and Sea), Educational Institutions, Churches, Ministries, ICT, Hire Purchase, Local Government Authorities, Estate Businesses, Export and Import Businesses, Bill of Exchange Transactions, Royalties Transactions, Consignment Transactions, Stock Market Transactions, Sports, Entertainment, Hospitals and Hospitality Industry, etc.