Megan LeBaron
Sunday, July 15, 2012

Pacioli’s Heirarchy

AC 502: Regulation
Professor Lerner
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1 LIABILITY TO CLIENTS 1 LIABILITY TO THIRD PARTIES 2

LIABILITY TO THE GOVERNMENT 2 SEC v. KEMPISTY and COMPANY 3 SEC v. DELPHI CORPORATION, et al., (PAUL FREE, CPA) 5 SEC v. JASPER 6 LIMITED ACCOUNTING-CLIENT PRIVILEGE 7 CONCLUSION 9 REFERENCES 11 INTRODUCTION
Accountants have responsibilities to act in the interest of three different parties. 1. Their clients 2. Third parties 3. The government In this paper, I will outline the duties accountants owe to each party, examples of how accountants breach duties to each party, and additional obligations accountants have to each and all of the three parties. LIABILITY TO CLIENTS Anyone from Fortune 500 corporations to low-income individuals can become accounting clients. A person or entity need only to enlist the professional services of an accountant via a contract to become a client. The contract may require the accountant to perform an audit, complete federal and/or state tax returns, give a consultation regarding business formation and financial planning, or a wide host of other accounting functions. Beatty and Samuelson explain how an accountant must execute their contracts with their clients with, “a degree of skill and competence that an ordinarily prudent accountant would under the circumstances (2010).” We may consider this concept the idea of due professional care. Beatty and Samuelson also write that because accountants hold a position of professionalism, their clients entrust sensitive and sometimes confidential information to them. As such, accountants have a duty not to violate said trust. Accountants must not use a client’s information for anyone’s gain other than the client’s (2010).