Dilemma Of An Accountant

Financial Accounting has been my favorite course since secondary school. It was the subject I scored the highest in JAMB. Undergraduate days further exposed me to the various dynamics in accounting. Although, the objective then was just about passing the exam and moving on.

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification further broadened my horizon about other areas to know as an accountant.

Find below the international code of ethics for professional accountants:

Integrity

A professional accountant should be straightforward and honest in all professional and business relationships.

Objectivity

A professional accountant should not allow bias, conflict of interest, or undue influence of others to influence judgements.

Professional Competence and Due Care

A professional accountant has a continuing duty to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the level required. This is to ensure that a client receives competent professional services based on current developments in practice, legislation, and techniques. A professional accountant should act diligently and follow applicable technical and professional standards when providing professional services.

Confidentiality

A professional account should respect the confidentiality of information received from professional engagements as an accountant. Therefore should not disclose such information to a third party without due approval unless there is a legal duty to do so.

Professional Behavior

A professional accountant should comply with the relevant laws and regulations and avoid any action that discredits the profession.

Another experience from my ACCA qualification was the knowledge and application of the various International Financial Accounting Standards. Then I thought, that’s is the height of it because there is just a standard for any transaction one needs to treat.

I made a deliberate effort towards understanding applications of the various standards even though they still change from time to time, therefore to remain relevant as a professional account, you need to maintain a high level of professional competence and due care.

Corporate Financial Accounting at the LBS brought about another dimension to the profession which I had never heard about. The focus initially was on the elementary aspect such as double-entry principles, ledgers, journals, trial balance, and preparation of the financial statement. I thought the course would end there but, to my surprise, it did not.

The facilitator started mentioning models such as Altman z score, Beneish M-score, Piotroski F-score, and how we could use regression analysis to prepare financial projections. It made me wonder how on earth data analytics found its way to Corporate Financial Accounting.

The facilitator emphasized that after the financial statement had been analyzed by the financial analyst, the accountant begins to wonder if he reported that.

The Dilemma

So my question is, “Is there a limit to the scope of this beloved profession?”.