AICPA code of professional conduct - wikipedia AICPA code of professional conduct The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is a collection of codified statements issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that outline a CPA 's ethical and professional responsibilities. The code establishes standards for auditor independence, integrity and objectivity, responsibilities to clients and colleagues and acts discreditable to the accounting profession. The AICPA is responsible for drafting, revising and reissuing the code annually, on June 1. The current Code is available at the AICPA Web site. For older versions of the Code, see the links below. Contents 1 History 2 Notable sections 2.1 Section 51 - Preamble 2.2 Section 101 - Independence 3 List of AICPA Code of Conduct and by - laws sections from AICPA Professional standards, 1974 - 2007 4 List of AICPA Code of Conduct and By - Laws Sections published as pamphlets, 1917 - 1997 5 References History Joseph Edmund Sterrett outlined the debate and issues in setting up a Code of Professional Conduct in his address to the annual meeting of the American Association of Public Accountants in 1907 The earliest `` official '' version of the code of professional conduct among American accountants was issued by the American Institute of Accountants on April 9, 1917. Notable sections Section 51 - preamble The opening principle of the code is that membership, and therefore adherence, to the code is voluntary. This means that an accountant is never under a legal responsibility to adhere to the code, and can renounce the code and membership in the AICPA at any time. Section 101 - independence Section 101 sets forth the various requirements to establish auditor independence and conditions that nullify it. Knowingly allowing a member who is not independent to continue to work on an engagement can result in disciplinary action from the AICPA, including possible revocation of the members status as a CPA. Generally, the following actions will impair auditor independence : Authorizing, executing or consummating a transaction, or otherwise exercising authority on behalf of a client or having the authority to do so. Preparing source documents, in electronic or other form, evidencing the occurrence of a transaction. Having custody of client assets. Supervising client employees in the performance of their normal recurring activities. Determining which recommendations of the member should be implemented. Reporting to the board of directors on behalf of management. Serving as a client 's stock transfer or escrow agent, registrar, general counsel or its equivalent. Establishing or maintaining internal controls, including performing ongoing monitoring activities. Auditor independence is impaired if a member on the engagement team has a direct or material indirect financial interest in the client. Member 's on the engagement team are not allowed to be on the board of trustees of a trust that owns, or has committed to owning more than 10 % of the client 's equity. A member or any of their immediate family are not allowed to own more than 5 % of the clients equity. For the period being audited, the auditor is not allowed to operate as an officer, director, manager, promoter, underwriter or voting trustee for the client. If a member leaves the auditing firm and is employed by the client, the entire firms independence is deemed to be impaired. If an audit member is made a job offer by the client and does not immediately report and remove themselves from the engagement, their independence is impaired. However, if the member does report the job offer and rejects it, and is no longer being considered for a position with the client, then their independence is not impaired. When the auditing member has a previous employment relationship with the client, barring certain exceptions, the auditor is required to liquidate any employee welfare programs that they have vested benefits in and collect or pay any loans outstanding to the client. The immediate family of the auditor is considered part of the test for impairment of independence. The exception to this is that the immediate family members of auditors are allowed to work for the client in non-management roles. If the auditor provides non-attest services such as tax support or consulting, they are required to adhere to the independence requirements of other regulatory bodies that govern those services. Failure to do so will impair their independence for their audit engagement as well. List of AICPA Code of Conduct and by - laws sections from AICPA Professional standards, 1974 - 2007 No. Date Official title September 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of September 1, 1974 full - text September 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of September 1, 1975 full - text 1976 July 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of July 1, 1976 full - text 1977 July 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of July 1, 1977 full - text 1978 July 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, Quality control, as of July 1, 1978 full - text 1979 July 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, Quality control, as of July 1, 1979 full - text 1980 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, Quality control, as of June 1, 1980 full - text 1981 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, Quality control, as of June 1, 1981 full - text 1982 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1982 full - text June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1983 full - text 1984 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1984 full - text 1985 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1985 full - text 1986 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1986 full - text June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Ethics, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1987 full - text 1988 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Code of conduct, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1988 full - text October 1 AICPA Professional standards : Code of conduct, Bylaws, as of October 1, 1989 full - text June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of conduct, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1990 full - text 1991 June 1 AICPA Professional Standards : Code of Conduct, Bylaws, as of June 1, 1991 full - text 1992 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and Bylaws as of June 1, 1992 full - text 1993 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 1993 full - text June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 1994 full - text 1995 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 1995 full - text June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 1996 full - text 1997 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct as of June 1, 1997 full - text 1997 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Bylaws as of June 1, 1997 full - text 1998 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct as of June 1, 1998 full - text 1998 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Bylaws as of June 1, 1998 full - text 1999 April 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of April 1, 1999 full - text 2000 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2000 full - text June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2001 full - text 2002 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2002 full - text 2003 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2003 full - text June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2004 full - text 2005 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2005 full - text 2006 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2006 full - text 2007 June 1 AICPA professional standards : Code of professional conduct and bylaws as of June 1, 2007 full - text List of AICPA Code of Conduct and By - Laws Sections published as pamphlets, 1917 - 1997 Year Date Official title 1917 April 9 Rules of professional conduct : prepared by the Committee on Professional Ethics and approved by the Council April 9, 1917 full - text 1919 September 30 Rules of professional conduct : including amendments and additions prepared by the Committee on Professional Ethics and approved by the Council prior to September 30, 1919 full - text 1931 - 1932 By - laws and rules of professional conduct, 1931 - 1932 full - text 1938 - 1939 By - laws and rules of professional conduct, 1938 - 1939 full - text 1940 By - laws and Rules of professional conduct, 1940 full - text 1942 By - laws and rules of professional conduct, 1942 full - text 1943 By - laws and rules of professional conduct, 1943 full - text 1944 By - laws and rules of professional conduct 1944 full - text 1945 By - laws and rules of professional conduct 1945 full - text 1948 By - laws and rules of professional conduct 1948 full - text 1950 December 18 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct, as amended by vote of the membership December 19, 1950 full - text 1952 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct 1952 full - text 1954 January 4 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct 1954 full - text 1956 January 9 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct 1956 full - text 1958 By - laws ; Rules of professional conduct ; Numbered opinions of the committee on professional ethics full - text 1959 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct, Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics, 1959 full - text 1960 February 2 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct, Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics, 1960 full - text 1961 By - laws, Rules of professional conduct, Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics, Objectives of the Institute adopted by Council, 1961 full - text 1964 By - laws ; Code of professional ethics ; Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics ; Objectives of the Institute adopted by Council full - text 1965 By - laws ; Code of professional ethics ; Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics ; Objectives of the Institute adopted by Council full - text 1965 Code of professional ethics & numbered opinions 1965 full - text 1967 March 20 Code of professional ethics as amended March 4, 1965 ; By - laws as amended March 20, 1967 ; Numbered opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics ; Objectives of the Institute adopted by Council ; Description of the Professional Practice of Certified Public Accountants full - text 1969 December 30 Code of professional ethics as amended December 30, 1969, and interpretative opinions full - text 1970 Summaries of ethics rulings full - text 1972 Restatement of the code of professional conduct ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct ; Interpretations of rules of conduct full - text 1973 March 1 Code of professional ethics, Effective March 1, 1973 ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct ; Interpretations of rules of conduct full - text March Code of professional ethics, Effective March 1, 1973 ; March 1974 edition ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of Professional ethics ; Interpretations of rules of conduct full - text February 1 Bylaws as amended February 1, 1974 ; Implementing resolutions of Council ; Objectives of the Institute ; Description of the professional practice of certified public accountants full - text March Code of professional ethics, Effective March 1, 1973, March 1975 edition ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct ; Interpretations of rules of conduct full - text March Code of professional ethics, Effective March 1, 1973, March 1975 edition ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct ; Interpretations of rules of conduct full - text 1976 March 1 Code of professional ethics, March 1, 1976, edition ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct, effective March 1, 1973 ; Interpretations of rules of conduct ; Ethics rulings full - text 1977 May 1 Code of professional ethics, May 1, 1977, edition ; Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct, effective March 1, 1973 ; Interpretations of rules of conduct ; Ethics rulings full - text 1978 March 31 Rules of conduct as amended March 31, 1978 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended March 31, 1978 full - text 1981 October 15 Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended October 15, 1981 ; Rules of conduct of the code of professional ethics as amended March 31, 1979 ( 1981 ) full - text May 10 Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended May 10, 1983 ; Rules of conduct of the code of professional ethics as amended January 6, 1983 full - text 1984 Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct of the code of professional ethics as amended January 6, 1983 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended May 10, 1983 ( 1984 ) 3 full - text 1985 May 15 Concepts of professional ethics ; Rules of conduct of the code of professional ethics as amended January 6, 1983 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended May 15, 1985 full - text 1988 January 12 Code of professional conduct as adopted January 12, 1988 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended January 12, 1988 full - text 1991 May 20 Code of professional conduct as amended May 20, 1991 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended January 8, 1990 full - text 1992 January 14 Code of professional conduct as amended January 14, 1992 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended January 14, 1992 full - text 1993 May 26 Code of professional conduct as amended January 14, 1992 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions as amended May 26, 1993 full - text June 17 Code of professional conduct as amended January 14, 1992 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended June 17, 1996 full - text 1997 October 28 Code of professional conduct and implementing resolutions of Council as amended October 28, 1997 ; Bylaws and implementing resolutions of Council as amended October 28, 1997 full - text References Jump up ^ AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, Section ET 51.02, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, June 1st, 2011 Jump up ^ Sterrett, Joseph Edmund. `` Professional Ethics. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting at St. Paul, Minn., October Fourteenth -- Seventeenth, Nineteen Hundred and Seven. American Association of Public Accountants. Pp. 108 - 133 Jump up ^ Code of Professional Conduct, American Institute of Accountants, April 9, 1917 Jump up ^ Marquette, R. Penny. `` Ethics, Professional. '' In History of Accounting : An International Encyclopedia, edited by Michael Chatfield and Richard Vangermeersch. New York : Garland Publishing, pp. 233 - 235 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AICPA_Code_of_Professional_Conduct&oldid=857013000 '' Categories : Codes of conduct Accounting in the United States Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 29 August 2018, at 00 : 16 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: the aicpa’s code of professional conduct establishes
Answer: standards for auditor independence, integrity and objectivity, responsibilities to clients and colleagues and acts discreditable to the accounting profession