Navigate ethical dilemmas with confidence by mastering three key mindsets that empower you to identify professional threats and speak up with confidence.
Ethical dilemmas rarely announce themselves clearly. In today’s complex professional environment, accountants are often called to act in moments of ambiguity — when competing pressures, relationships, and organizational realities can blur the path forward. Navigating these situations requires more than knowledge of the rules; it requires the confidence and capability to speak up when it matters most.
In Ethics: Three Speak-Up Mindsets, professional accountant and executive coach Anna Stuart guides CPAs beyond theory into practical application, helping bridge the critical gap between knowing the right thing to do and actually doing it.
The course begins by grounding participants in the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Code, revisiting the five fundamental principles of ethical behavior: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behavior. From this foundation, the learning quickly moves into the realities of practice — examining the threats that accountants encounter every day. Through realistic case studies, you will explore how self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity, and intimidation can subtly — and sometimes powerfully — compromise professional judgment.
But awareness alone is not enough.
This course provides a clear, practical framework for ethical decision-making when the stakes are high. You will learn how to evaluate facts objectively, identify affected stakeholders, and determine a defensible course of action grounded in professional standards.
At the heart of the program are three powerful speak-up mindsets — designed to help you move from hesitation to action. You will leave with concrete strategies to communicate concerns effectively, uphold your professional obligations, and contribute to a culture of integrity within your organization.
Because ethics is not tested when it is easy — it is proven when it is difficult.
FCPA, FCMC, ACC
With more than 25 years of experience advising and coaching organizations and leaders in complex contexts, I have established a strong reputation for helping organizations and individuals to realize their goals. I have designed, delivered and facilitated hundreds of presentations and group meetings. As co-owner of an executive search and HR consulting firm, I led and managed the firm’s growth and national expansion. I’ve been a consulting partner and principal with two large public accounting and consulting firms and have held senior finance leadership roles in the public sector and in a global not-for-profit organization. I have taught at the university undergraduate and high school continuing education levels. I am a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants, a Certified Executive Coach and Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Fellow Certified Management Consultant, and have a Master of Business Administration Degree. I am certified to interpret Gallup Clifton Strengths assessments, the Hogan Assessment, and the Management Research Group LEA Self-Assessment and LEA 360 Assessment.
Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.
Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.
