Weekly Reflection Paper Week 3
Ellen Foskey, Samantha McHugh(Borrayo), Tontanisha Scott
ECO/376
8-25-2014
Professor Dan Jensen

Weekly Reflection – Week 3
Ellen Foskey
AICPA Code of Professional Conduct from week one talked about the purpose of the AICPA Code of Professional conduct. Our text also detailed how it represents responsibilities, the public interest (which is by itself one of the main purposes). Furthermore, AICPA has a few more purposes: integrity (also very, very important) which was what was at the bottom of the WorldCom Scandal. Objectivity and independence which I believe were lost in the scandal because of greed. Finally, due care and scope, as well as a nature of service.
That seemed quite interesting, and I appreciated the knowledge that I received that week. However, week two was a bit challenging due to my church's revival, and all the reading that we have to do. I feel like I had fallen a little bit behind, but never the less we talked about the legal and regulatory issues that revolve around financial reporting. We discussed the ethics of accounting activities, what the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is, what it has to do with accounting. Accountants should follow rules and guidelines that are in place for the best interest of the public. Accountants should work with clients, avoid any conflict of interest, as well as serving the public while maintaining honesty and giving accurate information where necessary.
Week three reflected financial statements; the legality and compliance businesses should follow. Part of the class discussion was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 and its importance to all businesses.
The codes that are the most important when discussing SOX was Section 302 and 404. Section 302 tells that CEO's and CFO should file honest and accurate reports with SEC (Securities Exchange Commission), and Section 404 tells about audit of financial statements and internal controls. Rules, laws, and regulations are in place to assist unethical behavior. Auditors especially should respect the privacy of their clients. They should abide by all rules, laws, and regulations because they have civil liabilities if they do not follow the Security Exchange Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
If they do not follow all rules and regulations, they could face charges if they commit criminal acts.
Quite an interesting week, I am looking forward to the next lessons.
Tontanisha Scott
Week 1 was a good week for me. We discussed many things, which with I am familiar. It shed more light on just how important character really is. I know that one person's errors can hurt an entire corporation. This unethical behavior we discuss is extremely true in the accounting department. That is why it is important to be confident, check for errors, have great problem-solving skills, and be honest. Week 2 was not so great for me; I felt a bit lost with this information while having some trouble keeping up. I wish I had a bit more time to take in more of the previous information without getting overwhelmed, but I do look forward to the weeks to come.
Samantha McHugh
I loved discussing the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Code of Professional Conduct. What Tontanisha said is true that someone's error can ruin a vast amount of people. Ellen made a point of mentioning the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It appears that all three of us on Team D feel that unethical behavior is dangerous for other people and unnecessary.
Cynthia Cooper was a tremendous part of week two's discussion. She was the internal auditor at WorldCom, the business that doctored their records for more profit on line costs. When Gene could not find documentation to support a $500 million computer expense, he went up the chain of command to Cynthia to show her the issue at hand, and that was his task anytime something did not look right. Cynthia’s task was that she was supposed to form an investigation team. At the end of the investigations, the top two executives were the two most involved individuals. Because of her work in discovering the $11 billion fraud, she received the Accounting Exemplar Award in 2004, and the AICPA inducted her into the AICPA Hall of Fame in 2005. I hope there are more people in the world like her.