Public Accounting: A Profession at a Crossroads.
讨论了注册会计师职业的社会影响，分析了独立性、正直和客观性三个概念之间的混淆，以及它们对职业自我监管和公众信任的挑战。
Abstract This article discusses the social impact of the certified public accountant (CPA) profession. A professional requires extensive training and that training must be of an academic or theoretical nature, as well as on the job training and experience. This expertise, or special knowledge, leads to certification, and laws are enacted by society restricting the practice of the profession to those so certified. Because of the intellectual training and judgment required for their practice, professionals require their own members to evaluate the conduct of one another. Hence, society grants a profession control over its membership and conditions of practice (self-regulation). The American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA) Professional Standards state that CPA must retain their integrity and objectivity in all phases of their practice and, when expressing opinions on financial statements, avoid involvement in situations that would impair the credibility of their independence. The Standards also state that independence has traditionally been defined by the profession as the ability to act with integrity and objectivity. Hence, the three concepts of independence, integrity, and objectivity are very interrelated, and have caused a great deal of confusion both within the profession and without. Officially, the AICPA has required all three attributes during the performance of the attest function, but only objectivity and integrity while performing other functions.