Test your judgment against real scenarios from today’s practice: suspected client fraud, fake reviews, cognitive decline, divorcing clients, gifts, and the ethics of using AI.
Real-world ethical dilemmas are rarely as clear as the ones in textbooks. In this candid round table, four practising CPAs from cross-border tax, small-business and sole-practitioner backgrounds work through situations they’ve faced in their own practices. For each scenario, one panellist takes the “devil’s pitchfork” and argues the opposing view, which brings out the gray areas and the pressures that make the right decision harder than it looks.
The panel starts with the pull of conformity: what to do when a client insists “everyone does it this way.” They discuss a real case of suspected insurance fraud by a client, covering the duty not to be associated with false or misleading information, whether there is a duty to report, how to resign without leaving a client stranded, and why to recommend legal advice. They then turn to protecting your reputation online, including fake reviews and responding to negative ones without breaching confidentiality.
The discussion moves on to clients showing signs of cognitive decline, monitoring remote staff, and conflicts of interest when long-time clients divorce. It also covers financial targets and pressure from advisors, reporting unethical conduct by others, accepting gifts, and handling a takeover letter when the previous accountant hasn’t been paid. A large part of the session addresses AI: whether to bill for time AI has saved, what to disclose in engagement letters, protecting client data, and why professional judgment and responsibility stay with you.
The session is interactive throughout, with audience questions and a live poll on AI disclosure.
1 activity • 1 videos • duration: 1h 31m
The CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum was created to offer an inviting, semi-causal, and easygoing professional development weekend that provides substantial professional development value to small practitioners. All profit earned by the CPA Small Practitioners’ Forum is donated to the Alberta CPA Education Foundation, so you are helping young people in Canada get scholarships for university. All these courses are reviewed by the delegates at the Forum in Banff annually so we have a great lineup that is adjusted every year to keep things relevant to small practitioners. If you work at a public accounting firm in Canada with employees of 1-50 people, you are our target demographic and you should find this course useful.
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