The rise in firm discontinuances and sales brings with it a host of practitioner concerns regarding independence, confidentiality, and the transfer of client files.  To address these concerns and provide specific guidance, the Professional Ethics Executive Committee issued two new interpretations of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (the Code) and revised an existing interpretation.  April Sherman, man ...

For outsiders observing a scandal at a company or organization, the situation often seems implausible or incomprehensible.  How did leaders let it happen?  Why did so many people go along with the wrongdoing?  And for so long?  The bigger the fallout, the more we shake our heads in disbelief.  Kellogg’s Maryam Kouchaki on understanding—and avoiding—ethical breakdowns. To read the full article in strategy+bu ...

An overview of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and leading pre- and post-Daubert cases In this third part of a four-part series, the focus turns to the rules of evidence and standards used to admit the testimony of expert witnesses. While a minority of jurisdictions follows the Frye standard, the majority has adopted the Daubert standard. Objective testimony is critical, whic ...

An ethical duty to ourselves, the profession, and our clients Business appraisers owe each other, the profession, and clients a duty to behave ethically and set aside our own biases and self-interest. ...

Psychology Of Fraud: Why Good People Do Bad Things NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt and Alix Spiegel have put together a fascinating podcast that examines the psychology of fraud. It often isn’t as easily explained as bad people doing bad things. Ethicists and psychologists have documented an unusually high number of people who start out, in their minds, doing the right thing. The story follows the case of Toby Grove ...