Five guiding principles, axioms or postulates for my tax practice. There are five guiding principles that guide me in my career as an independent tax professional. They are as follows:
1. Respect customers’ personal time by providing convenient service with no lines and no waiting.
2. Adhere to the highest standards of ethics; follow the tax practitioner rules established by the IRS.
3. Provide a clean, calm and safe environment in which to meet with customers.
4. Listen to the customer’s fear and anxiety about his/her tax situation.
5. Provide quality service with a smile.
Current state of principles and values illustrated by professionals in the tax preparation service industry The tax preparation industry services millions of customers each tax season. Among the industry participants there are tax preparation franchises and independent tax preparation firms. The values illustrated by a tax professional; depends upon the individual or firm that is providing the service. However, most customer complaints are against tax preparation franchises like HR Block and Jackson Hewitt. Therefore, these complaints indicate that there is a lack of principle and values within this industry as a whole. On the other hand; there are other choices for taxpayers to receive the highest level of principles and values within their service. For instance; most customer complaints involve long wait times for service. Then, to add insult to injury; they further complain that after
I work closely with other employees and Partner of the firm. All questions raised by employees on the files regarding the accounting and tax are answered by myself. If I am not sure I will consult with Partner. This allows me to regularly update my knowledge with any new update. Therefore, it is important that I develop and maintain a positive relationship with both employees and Partner. It also assists in the company to create a positive environment where I am available to answer the questions asked by employees and resolve the problems.
Ms. Roberts, the owner of Be’s Professional Services, is a hard-working and giving woman with three children. She has over 10 years’ experience in the tax industry and is also a funder of Be’s Empower H.E.R., a group focusing on encouraging, educating and empowering women.
Gray identified four widely recognised accounting values that can be used to understand a nation’s accounting practices, which are professionalism, uniformity, conservatism and secrecy (Doupnik & Perera, 2015, p. 37). Professionalism verses statutory control is understood to be the difference between a nation’s preference for either individual professional judgement and self-regulation
It is imperative for tax professionals to understand the ethics environment of the practice. This paper is focused on the ethical responsibilities of tax professionals.
I used the same skills to negotiate with the IRS as well so they can let Thomas off the hook and explain to the IRS that this has been Thomas first year of tax preparation and had no idea what he had to do, but he sure had been paying his taxes. I did the something with the IRS, listened so I can communicate better and negotiated the perfect deal, Thomas got off and at the end I made a client for life. Thomas also helped me out, gave me the confidence to leave the company and start my own firm which now I help a lot of people and I never shrug anyone off regardless the situation or the matter. If I can not help them I will refer them to someone who can.
Accountants are held to a higher ethical standards and they must performed their duties in compliance with standards or ethical values of honesty, integrity, objectivity, due care, confidentiality, which must be fully committed to. They must put clients or public interest first before their own. They must have and ethical values and maintain those values way beyond what the society or the company’s code of ethic. It is important that accountants’ behavior or ethical values is in conformity with the
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has the duty of ensuring CPA’s follow rules and stringent penalties can result if not compliant. A code of ethics is involved and revisions have been made in recent years. The entire ethics provisions apply to members in public practice, business, and other members. Furthermore, the provisions have made the revised code is the creation of three sections for members in diverse areas of practice to assist accounting professionals in each group to determine whether they are in violation of any rules of conduct, (Mintz, 2014). There are tools made for CPA’s to make better ethical decisions to avoid conflicts. For instance, a provision in the prior section explains of violation of honesty and objectivity if a member is coerced into pressure. Since revisions
I believe we all must elect some key principles to guide our lives. In my life, focus is a major directive, and I direct my full attention and energy to every action so that my plans may become reality. Focus, however, is not enough to ensure success, and I believe that a sense of timing is equally important. It is precise timing that allows our focused efforts to produce effective results and gives us the small advantages that may significantly impact the results we obtain. As tax lawyers, we are not immune to this reality, and in order to be even more effective professionals, we must observe the world, paying close attention to the demands of our time. Important changes are coming, and this LL.M. program will be essential for my decisive participation in the scenario that lies ahead.
Trust to fulfil the clients wishes, honesty amongst each other and impartially when dealing with different parties. This rule also governs the firm the accountant is working for which is why Rihanna suing Berdon LPP is justifiable. The fact that Berdon LPP did not file for tax returns is baffling considering that’s one of the main jobs. The firm did not respect the client’s wishes by failing to do one of the most basic jobs. This caused Rihanna to be audited by the US IRS (International Revenue
I enjoyed reading your very informative post on Principle I – Responsibilities of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. The majority of the classmates discussed the third principle which is integrity, not to say that the principle of “responsibilities” is the most important, Duska, Duska, & Ragatz (2011) suggest that the first principle indicates the responsibility to cooperate with fellow professionals to maintain the integrity of the accounting profession. Under this principle, the accountant has the obligation to improve the art of accounting, to maintain the public’s confidence, and to carry out the professional responsibility for self-governance. Recent accounting scandals have deteriorated the public confidence in the profession therefore,
In the summary, I address the attributes that will make for a successful accountant or
Most of the leading tax consultants, both individuals, and firms, show some strong features or characteristics that differentiate them from their rivals. Following are some of these features:
Ethics in any industry is important, but for Accounting professionals and those in need of their services, it is a particularly stressed element. Information provided by accountants is used to make major decisions, including investing, downsizing, expanding, etc, so accountants are expected to be competent, reliable, and have a high degree of professional integrity. Because of these high expectations, the professional accountancy industry, like many other professions, has adopted professional codes of ethics (Woelfel, 1986). These ethical codes go above and beyond the requirements for state or federal laws and regulations. There are several professional organizations within the
Through job rotation and cross-training at Micron, I am well-versed in a wide range of subject areas in taxation. I become a subject expert in areas such as depreciation, R&D credits, stock compensation, U.S. and foreign withholding tax, permanent establishment, treaty network, corporate reorganizations and repatriation strategies, etc. I was promoted to work in the tax planning group because of my broad knowledge base in federal and international tax. I was heavily involved in the integration project related to major acquisitions and restructures. I helped develop the most complicated transfer pricing adjustment model for Singapore principal restructure. I worked closely with the local Japan tax team to develop a tax reporting package for Japan entities by syncing up U.S. tax reporting with Japan local tax law. During the process of developing the model, fine-tuning the packages, testing the end results, I gained a much better understanding of accounting for income tax. I learned how U.S. accounting for income tax rules interact with local tax laws. Accounting research has a similar process of developing a hypothesis, analyzing the data available to test the hypothesis and reaching a conclusion. Conceptual
Yes. Another method is to let all your family and friends know that you're in business as a tax professional. Ask your brothers, sisters, parents, grand parents, and extended family if they need any help with their taxes. Let them know that you are there for them, in case they need it. The important thing to remember is to see yourself as a helpful professional, when you're dealing with people. While your aim is to make money and be in business, your top priority should always be to help clients and prospects solve problems. Your first goal is to be a problem-solver and solution-finder for your clients and prospects.