공인회계사 직업윤리 함양을 위한 제언

We discuss how to improve the system of selecting and training certified public accountants (CPAs) to strengthen their professional ethics. The current system in South Korea has two main schemes to foster professional ethics. One is to set questions on professional ethics in the CPA exams. The other is to require CPA candidates to take classes on professional ethics for eight hours a year and pass the exam before registering for a license. Most lectures concentrate on understanding the ethics code, ethics-related regulations, etc. However, the current system has long been criticized because it is biased toward rules and insufficient for developing the morality necessary for CPAs. According to theories on moral development, ethical behavior involves four components: moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. Thus, ethics education needs to be designed to cultivate (1) moral sensitivity, which is the ability to identify ethical issues sensitively in a given situation; (2) moral judgment, which is the ability to analyze the risks of each alternative and reason correctly about what should be done; (3) moral motivation to prioritize ethical principles over other criteria; and (4) moral character that has the courage to take the right actions despite pressures against righteousness and temptations to take the easy way out. Ethical reasoning is also emphasized in the International Education Standard 4 (Professional Values, Ethics, and Attitudes), which the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) set as the ethics education principle for accountants. In the standard, the learning outcome is to achieve professional skepticism and professional judgment, ethical principles, and commitment to the public interest. The education program shall be designed for learning and development activities, emphasizing participatory ones such as role-playing, discussion, ethical dilemma case analyses, etc. The assessment of professional ethics shall occur via various approaches, including case-based tests, essays, and group activity observation, as well as written exams. Following the theories and the International Education Standard, we investigate and introduce several ethics education programs that are focused on case analysis and participating activities. One benchmark from the US is the lecture ‘Ethics in Accounting’ by Bill Miller at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. In this class, students thoroughly study ethics theories related to philosophy, psychology, activism, accounting fraud, internal control, auditing, regulations, and laws. It is noteworthy that all theories are introduced along with various case studies in the accounting and auditing fields. In addition, more than 30 cases with ethical dilemmas are discussed within the same framework: finding ethical issues, structuring situations, and evaluating alternatives to reach an ethical decision. Due to plentiful cases and repeated reasoning, students can develop moral sensitivity and ethical reasoning. Also, we review the capstone program of the Canadian Association of Certified Public Accountants, an online game-style simulation program for studying accounting ethics at the RMIT University in Australia, the drama-based ethics education of KPMG, and a simulation game for the education of PwC. We conclude that the selection and training system for CPAs in South Korea should be changed systematically to improve professional ethics. First, developing a curriculum that can train ethical reasoning is critical and urgent. Second, to extend ethics education, we suggest that the subject of accounting ethics should be designated as mandatory to meet the credit requirement for the CPA exam. Third, the training course before CPA license registration should include a program on ethical reasoning with participatory activities, similar to the one in Canada. Fourth, we propose to administer the ethics test for CPA license registration similarly to the ethics test of the national bar exam, elevating the ethics test to a higher position and promoting its importance. Finally, we suggest that CPAs provide pro bono services to affirm their commitment to the public interest. To implement our suggestions above, the financial authorities and the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants must make a resolute decision for a new approach and invest resources in the system's development. Accounting firms and academia also need to cooperate actively to develop a new system.