Professional ethics;

              HASKINS & SELLS
NEW YORK
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
S A N F R A N C I S C O
CHICAGO
DETROIT
ST. LOUIS
CLEVELAND
BALTIMORE
PITTSBURGH BULLETIN LOS ANGELES
SEATTLE
DENVER
ATLANTA
WATERTOWN
LONDON
VOL. I NEW Y O R K , JULY 15, 1918 No. 5
Professional Ethics
SOME few years ago a certain university
caused much merriment, especially
among editorial writers, by founding a chair
of business ethics. The editors, some of
them at least, claimed to see little relation
between the two things, business and ethics;
in other words there was no place in busi­ness
for ethics. For reasons with which we
are not concerned, the first and only occu­pant
of the chair did not remain sufficiently
long to prove or disprove the contention of
the newspapers.
The experience of the accountancy pro­fession
has been different. The American
Institute of Accountants (formerly The
American Association of Public Account­ants)
has since 1906 maintained a commit­tee
on professional ethics. Many and varied
have been the rules promulgated. Most of
them are sound in theory and workable in
practice; some are perhaps questionable.
The rule which condemns as unethical,
advertising and soliciting business, is espe­cially
difficult for the young practitioner to
observe. He may understand its purpose.
He may appreciate its importance. When
it stands in the way of paying the butcher
and the grocer it has no practical significance
for him.
Without the vast number of good rules
which are practiced by the profession it is
doubtful if it would have attained to the
solidarity which has marked the progress of
the past few years.
The word "ethics" is derived from the
Greek word meaning "character." Ethics
is the science which relates to right charac­ter
and conduct. The rules of ethics are
rules for the guidance of human conduct.
A thing is said to be ethical when it is right
according to the rules of human conduct.
A matter which is ethical should give no
offense to the parties concerned.
There are in our practice of the profes­sion
of accountancy a number of relations.
There are those between clients and the firm.
There are those between clients and the
staff. There are those between the staff and
the firm. In addition there may be men­tioned
our relations to fellow practitioners.
We consider it unethical, for example, to
take for our staff a man from a client, with­out
first obtaining the consent of the client.
Where a man is employed by another ac­countant
we consider it contrary to the
ethics of the profession even to discuss with
him the possibility of employment, unless,
as sometimes happens, the matter arises
through a ranking member of the organi­zation
with which he is connected.
We consider it unethical for a member of
the staff to solicit, or arrange for, employ­ment
with a client without first discussing
the matter with us.
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