By Thursday midnight your local time: Answer the following question:

1-      Please review the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct at: http://www.aicpa.org/Research/Standards/CodeofConduct/Pages/intro.aspx

Choose one of the sections and summarize it in a posting of at least 100 words. Please comment on at least two classmate's postings.

2-      What are some possible motivations that a company might have to either understate or overstate the amount of depreciation expense that it records for a given period? How might a financial analyst detect deliberate distortions by management? What other parties do you think should be monitoring the actions of management to prevent such distortions?

3-      Sam Roberts, CPA, is hired as the director of the Corporate Tax Department of Landry Corp., a publicly traded corporation. During his initial review of the company, he notices that differences between book and tax depreciation on fixed assets result in a sizeable deferred tax liability. Sam also learns that the Landry Corporation has a policy of selling the fixed assets before their tax liability reverses. This policy, in conjunction with increasing fixed asset investments, allows Landry to defer income taxes payable for several years.

Answer the following questions:

a-      Why would Landry Corp. have a policy of selling assets before the temporary differences reversed?

b-      What do you see as the ethical issues, if any, associated with this practice?

c-      If you were Sam, what would you do in this situation?

4-      What are the ethical and accounting ramifications of incorrectly capitalizing an item? Find a recent example of this practice in the news and summarize your findings. Be sure to include with your summary a discussion of Regis’ mission of “…encouraging the continual search for truth, values, and a just existence,” and answering the question “How ought we to live?”