Canadian Business Ethics - What CPAs Need to Know

This course provides a detailed walkthrough of business ethics in the Canadian context. It contextualizes challenging ethical issues that CPA members and their organizations are facing across the country. Keeping the CPA Code of Conduct in mind, it provides detailed step-by-step guidance on how to deal with unethical situations as an individual and as a business. It also discusses ways to promote and enforce ethical behaviour in the workplace. Case studies are used to contextualize theoretical concepts and frameworks, so that all CPA members feel confident tackling tough situations and cultivating ethical workplace environments. 

*Note that this course is a consolidation of other one-hour ethics courses, and therefore includes content covered in Dealing with Unethical Situations in the Workplace, Preventing Unethical Behaviour in the Workplace and CPA Code of Conduct.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the returns on investment from ethical business practices.
2. Describe the types of ethical situations faced by professional accountants. 
3. Apply a step-by-step framework to navigate ethical dilemmas. 
4. Apply a step-by-step framework to make complex business decisions with ethical considerations.
5. Assess case studies and apply frameworks to identify the best possible course of action.
6. Identify high risk behaviours of employees that may indicate underlying ethical issues.
7. Identify indicators of widespread ethical misconduct in an organization.
8. Assess an organization’s strengths and weaknesses using an ethics risk analysis.
9. Describe how to implement accounting-specific and organization-wide safeguards.
10. Examine the structure, contents and enforcement of the CPA Code of Conduct.
11. Describe the type of corporate culture, tone at the top and leadership required to instill ethical values and business practices into the workplace.
    
    

Topics Covered

• Return on investment of ethical behaviour
• Role of the Professional Accountant in a capitalistic society
• Ethical issues in the accounting profession
• Structure and contents of CPA Code of Conduct
• Ethical decision-making framework
• Pitfalls of complex decision-making with ethical considerations
• Case studies
• Threats to ethical behaviour
• Ethics risk analysis
• High risk behaviours and danger phrases
• Accounting-specific and organization-wide ethical safeguards 
• Corporate culture, tone at the top and ethical leadership

What's included in the course price?

• 4 hours of verifiable ethics PD
• Certificate of completion
• Access to course materials 24/7