Ethics and the CPA: Building Trust and Value-Added Services (CPA Practitioners Guide)

Book Description

"A society without truth—and the related quality of trust—will not long endure." —from the Preface

Ethics in corporate America has become a bottom-line issue. Scandals such as the junk bond debacle in the late '80s and the recent bankruptcy of Orange County, California, graphically illustrate just how devastating losses from corrupt business practices can be. Closing the rift between a company's public and private face, its avowed as opposed to actual behavior, is now more than ever the concern of the accountant.

Examining a firm's business records and practices has traditionally placed the accountant in the role of watchdog. And in a corporate world where ethical ambivalence can complicate even the most routine business decision, a trusted accountant can guide a company toward a revived sense of purpose, showing it how to live up to its own expressed ethical standards—leading the way to new business, increased profits, and cost savings. Ethics and the CPA details just how an accountant can assess a company's ethical health as part of a rigorous accounting regimen—and institute corrective measures.

The book begins by clearly defining the accountant's role in the area of "ethical services," with specifics on establishing and performing an audit on an ethics-based program for business, governmental, and not-for-profit entities. Issues such as the specific knowledge, competencies, and attitudes essential to the professional providing ethical services are also discussed.

The second part of the book takes the ethical pulse of the contemporary business environment, analyzing some notable ethical failures in well-known companies as well as the range of regulatory demands on CPAs, including the requirement for finding unethical/illegal behavior (SAS 82) and SEC oversight responsibilities. Also included are the results of an ethics survey report on CPAs given to state CPA societies, regulatory bodies, and industry.

Finally, part three looks at the framework and issues surrounding developing and leading an in-house ethics program, as well as the elements of an effective ethical program, developing an ethical oversight committee, benchmarking an ethics program, marketing ethical services, and the ethical challenges in the new millennium.

Ethics and the CPA is a practical handbook for the accountant on guiding one's clients toward an improved bottom line and financial stability—through impeccable conduct from the boardroom on down.

Ensuring your client's continued financial prosperity —with an in-house ethics program.

Keeping a firm financially healthy has become more and more a question of monitoring its ethical pulse. Assessing the on-the-job behavior of managers and employees and how closely it measures up to their expressed codes of conduct has now become part of a CPA's overall financial review function. And building an in-house ethics program that both leads and inspires has become one of the key measures of an accountant's success. Ethics and the CPA describes how to make "ethical services" part of the accounting regimen, with specifics on establishing and performing an audit on an ethics-based program for business, governmental, and not-for-profit entities. It also surveys the contemporary business environment, analyzing some notable ethical failures in well-known companies as well as the host of regulatory demands on CPAs, including selected laws and regulations illustrating the range of compliance expected in the United States. The book also provides the specifics of setting up an effective ethical program, developing an ethical oversight committee, benchmarking an ethics program, marketing ethical services, and the ethical challenges in the new millennium. The essential guidebook on how to incorporate ethical services into an existing accounting practice, Ethics and the CPA shows accountants how to make their clients' bottom line an ethical one.

Customer Reviews:

Considerable Understanding of Professional Ethics.......2000-06-29

The book is easy reading and gets to the core of the complicated topic of business Ethics. Many examples are given where total business failures resulted, due to intentional or accidental disregard of conflicting issues regarding business ethics. The book should be required reading for students as well as business professionals and would be a useful pocket reference, especially where ethical issues are not clear.

Considerable understanding of professional ethics.......2000-06-23

The book should be required reading for students as well as business professionals and would be a useful pocket reference, especially where ethical issues are not clear.

Average customer rating:
Ethics and the CPA : Building Trust and Value-Added Services (CPA Practitioners Guide S.)
Charles H. Calhoun
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU7DIU

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Report on the Law of the Tenement (Scot Law Com)
Scotland
Manufacturer: Stationery Office Books (TSO)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0102596980

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Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site Act of 1994 : report (to accompany H.R. 4158) (including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office) (SuDoc Y 1.1/8:103-642)
U.S. Congressional Budget Office
Manufacturer: U.S. G.P.O.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00010KPXQ

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REPORT OF THE TENEMENT HOUSE COMMITTEE .. CHAPTER 479 OF THE LAWS OF 1894
Anon
Manufacturer: James B. Lyon, State Printer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KAETXE

Average customer rating:
Report on the Law of the Tenement
Scottish Law Commission
Manufacturer: Stationery Office Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHVV3Y

Book Description

Photographs of outer space--produced by earthbound and space telescopes and planet-roving satellites--have captivated a vast audience. And nowhere has this audience found more enthralling views than on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), a website so popular that it draws well over one million hits every week. The Universe: 365 Days presents in unprecedented clarity 365 spectacular images culled from the thousands that have been featured on the site, which has been hailed as one of the best science sites by both Scientific American and Popular Science magazines.

Following the enormously successful format of Abrams' Earth From Above: 365 Days, The Universe: 365 Days has been crafted by the two astrophysicists who in 1995, in collaboration with NASA, created and continue to maintain the APOD website. Accompanying each stunning image is a short explanatory text that greatly expands the reader's appreciation of the wonders of the cosmos.

Customer Reviews:

Not so hot........2007-07-23

I am a HUGE fan of Earth From Above, I think it's by far one of the best photo books out there. This book pales in comparison to the caliber of the photography in Earth. Very disappointing. There a couple of amazing shots, but that's about it. I wouldn't bother, unless you're super into astronomy.

Universe.......2006-08-24

We have purchased several of these books - one for ourselves and the others as gifts. It is awesome.

AWESOME!.......2006-03-18

This is a truly awesome and inspiring book. The gorgeous photographs and the informative text will challenge your imagination to the breaking point! Best of all, this book will strengthen your faith in our awesome Creator God, and in the Bible - His word of truth to all mankind.
Consider the following Bible verses, written hundreds to thousands of years before the invention of the first telescope:
"The host of heaven cannot be numbered." Jeremiah 33:22
"As many as the stars of the sky in multitude - innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore." Hebrews 11:12
"Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing." Isaiah 40:26
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have made, what is man that You are mindful of him?" Psalm 8:3,4
"[God] hangs the earth on nothing." Job 26:7
"It is [God] who sits above the circle of the earth." Isaiah 40:22
"There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." 1 Corinthians 15:41
"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades? [Can you] loose the belt of Orion?" Job 38:31
"Can you guide Arcturus?" Job 38:32
"God ..... has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." Hebrews 1:1,2
"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it ..... who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited." Isaiah 45:18
"You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host ..... the host of heaven worships You." Nehemiah 9:6
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and there words to the end of the world." Psalm 19:1-4
"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Disappointing to say the least.......2004-10-05

I wanted to buy this book for a long time and waited until the price was right. When I bought it, I couldn't check inside because it was wrapped in plastic. So when I brought it home and opened it, I was very disappointed with the photos. I was expecting super high quality photos and instead found tons of OLD photos of galaxies and stars that have been available in other books (which I have or have read) since the 1960s and 1970s. Or worse, photos seemingly taken directly from websites, with web quality, ie: not very good.

They had to fill this book with 365 photos and I say 250 of them are not worth spending any amount of money on, because they're free on the internet or the quality is terrible or simply because they've been available in other (and better) books for several decades now and the writer didn't bother getting updated versions of those old photos. As an example, on Nov. 27, there's the famous "Earth at Night" photo. I already have the photo as a desktop image (it's widely available on the net) and it looks better on my computer than in the book, which is murky and lacks detail.

The Universe: 365 Days is just not what I expected. The concept is actually cool but the execution is very uneven and at times poor. I would have left it at the bookstore if I initially had the chance to look inside it before purchasing it.

beautiful photography.......2004-06-02

There is a website called "Astronomy Picture of the Day". The website is exactly what it claims to be. Every day the website posts a new picture related to astronomy with a description of that picture written by a professional astronomer. With the first archived photo on that website from June 16, 1995, the editors of "The Universe: 365 Days" had nearly 8 years of photographs to draw on when this volume was published in May 2003. This book can be used like a calendar because that is how this book is laid out: every day of the year has an astronomy photograph, with a description of each picture.

As someone who knows very little about the universe, or astronomy, even with the descriptions next to the pictures I still wasn't always sure what I was looking at and how one picture was truly different from another. I understand that they look different and that they are pictures of very different parts of the universe, but the details are far beyond my comprehension. What is not beyond my comprehension is the fact that these are stunningly beautiful pictures. Even simple pictures that we may have seen many times before, like a picture of our planet from space, is striking and beautiful. Others are of star clusters and galaxies that are so far away and so alien that it boggles the mind to know that there are places like this out there and we really know nothing about what it would be like to travel there.

This book can be read as a calendar, where you flip the page each day and see what new photograph is waiting. It can be read like that, but I couldn't imagine only looking at one of these pictures a day. After seeing one picture, I just had to turn the page to see what wonder was waiting for me, and almost without exception, there was a wonder on every page. Beautiful space photography (though some are on Earth, and others looking out from Earth). If that sounds interesting, this collection is probably for you.

Customer Reviews:

beautifully produced calendar.......2007-09-01

Posted in my office. Lots of curious (about the pictures) comments. Very attractive & intellectually stimulating at the same time. I hope they do one (or have one) that focuses more on banknotes than on coins for my 2008 selection.

Freudian Slips: 365 Days of Verbal Malfunctions 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar

Average customer rating:

Freudian Slips: 365 Days of Verbal Malfunctions 2008 Day-to-Day Calendar
LLC Andrews McMeel Publishing , and Universe Publishing
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

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ASIN: 0789316765

Book Description

Paging Dr. Freud! Paging Dr. Freud!

The good doctor would be proud, and amazed, at this collection of more than 300 of the best worst things ever said. It's a hilarious and ribald celebration of embarrassing slips of the tongue, malapropisms, and just plain mistakes.

Includes quotes from celebrities, politicians, and athletes. A great gift for pop culture fans and celebrity watchers.

Book Description

Glorious full-color images from Abrams's best selling book, The Universe: 365 Days, make for an awesome page-a-day!

Stamps 2007 Wall Calendar: 365 Days of Collecting History

Average customer rating:

Stamps 2007 Wall Calendar: 365 Days of Collecting History
Universe Publishing , and National Postal Museum Smithsonian Institution
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

Stamps | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Money: 365 Days of Currency

ASIN: 0789314797

Flight 365 Days of History's Greatest Aircraft: 2006 Wall Calendar

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Flight 365 Days of History's Greatest Aircraft: 2006 Wall Calendar
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum , and Universe Publishing
Manufacturer: Universe Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar

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Book Description

This book reviews and interrelates a large number of theoretical and experimental contributions to the research on finite plastic deformation of single crystals and polycrystalline metals made during the past quarter century. An overall theoretical framework for investigation of large strains in crystalline materials is presented that enables the blending of contemporary and earlier experimental research with modern concepts in solid mechanics. Professor Havner has provided a historical perspective throughout including accurate attribution of ideas and emphasis on pioneering studies, beginning with G. I. Taylor and the German researchers in the 1920s. Early chapters deal with single crystals, including extensive analyses of particular experimental configurations. Then connections between single crystals and polycrystalline material behavior are considered. Necessary background to the most general theoretical sections is presented in an appendix and approximately 200 references to the primary scientific literature are included.

Book Description

This invaluable proceedings contains contributions from leading scientists in astrophysics, cosmology and related fields such as gravitation and elementary particles physics. It provides a general review of the status and the prospects of research in these fields for an audience of astrophysicists and physicists. The book includes both in depth reviews of various fields of relativistic astrophysics and shorter contributions on the latest results and developments in more specific areas. Some of the topics discussed are: physics of the early universe, cosmological parameters, formation of galaxies, black holes and compact objects, gravitational waves, cosmic rays, high energy radiation, dark matter, cosmic background, active galactic nuclei, supernovae and gravitational lensing.

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