Accountant Responsibility
Research Paper – Accountant Responsibility
Introduction
Accounting by definition is “The bookkeeping methods involved in making a financial record of business transactions and in the preparation of statements concerning the assets, liabilities, and operating results of a business” (The American Heritage). An accountant’s responsibility is not something that is equally split or separated by category. It is not something that can be defined easily or without a lot of research and thought. An accountant responsibility is said to be between their clients, third parties, and the government itself, but it is also a personal responsibility. An accountant takes trust into their hands from others, and what is done with that trust is how an accountant makes their name. A choice will always have to be made one way or another but the choice should maintain your reputation as a trust worthy, ethical, and legal accountant. When you think of scandals in the accounting industry, what actions come to mind that causes the scandals in the first place? When accountants lie about statements or try to hide money, add money, or change money, usually for the benefit of themselves and others such as CEO’s, right? Well those are what require regulation from the government and accounting responsibilities to be reevaluated. Over the past few years we have seen the economy go from a feeling of reaching new heights, to the lowest of lows and with that came the accounting scandals and the need to expand government regulation. In response to the changes in the economy the public wanted accounting standards and government regulation to assist in alleviating the way financials were being reported so the money that was being lost wasn't nearly as detrimental as it looked. The changes in the economy required changes in regulation. The changes in regulation set the need for accountant responsibility to be expanded. This paper is to go into details about the “three major parties” that
Introduction
Accounting by definition is “The bookkeeping methods involved in making a financial record of business transactions and in the preparation of statements concerning the assets, liabilities, and operating results of a business” (The American Heritage). An accountant’s responsibility is not something that is equally split or separated by category. It is not something that can be defined easily or without a lot of research and thought. An accountant responsibility is said to be between their clients, third parties, and the government itself, but it is also a personal responsibility. An accountant takes trust into their hands from others, and what is done with that trust is how an accountant makes their name. A choice will always have to be made one way or another but the choice should maintain your reputation as a trust worthy, ethical, and legal accountant. When you think of scandals in the accounting industry, what actions come to mind that causes the scandals in the first place? When accountants lie about statements or try to hide money, add money, or change money, usually for the benefit of themselves and others such as CEO’s, right? Well those are what require regulation from the government and accounting responsibilities to be reevaluated. Over the past few years we have seen the economy go from a feeling of reaching new heights, to the lowest of lows and with that came the accounting scandals and the need to expand government regulation. In response to the changes in the economy the public wanted accounting standards and government regulation to assist in alleviating the way financials were being reported so the money that was being lost wasn't nearly as detrimental as it looked. The changes in the economy required changes in regulation. The changes in regulation set the need for accountant responsibility to be expanded. This paper is to go into details about the “three major parties” that
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