Audit Firm Professionals Have Cheated on Ethics and Internal Training Exams How can it be that three of the big four CPA firms were caught cheating on external and internal ethics and continuing professional education (CPE) courses given that their role as auditors is to protect the public interest and... Read more →

What’s Fair? Moral hazard refers to a situation that arises when an individual has the chance to take advantage of a financial arrangement or situation, knowing that all the risks and consequences will fall on another party. In a sense, it allows one party to take advantage of another. Moral... Read more →

There Are Limits When Incorporating Ethics into AI Decision-Making Perhaps you read the article “On An ‘ethical’ AI trained on human morals has turned racist.” It claims that while machine learning software Ask Delphi allows you to ponder any moral quandary, it may not give you an appropriate response. The... Read more →

Should You Buy With Your Heart, Not With Your Wallet? Perhaps you have heard about “Ethical Consumerism”. It has various elements to it but, generally, is the practice of spending money in a way that aligns with your values. That’s the angle I like to address because it makes making... Read more →

Unrealized Capital Gains are Not Part of Income Just imagine that you paid $1,000 to purchase a stock this year and on December 31, 2021, it is valued as $2,000 based on then current stock prices (i.e., fair market value). Under the present law, you would not be taxed on... Read more →

The Optics Are Not Good: Appearances Matter Hunter Biden has a right to have an art show and sell his paintings. He’s not working in the Biden administration, so the questions raised about Hunter’s private dealings are different than the dealings of Donald Trump’s kids when he was President because... Read more →

What Does it Mean in Today’s Society to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” I’m a big believer in following The Golden Rule as a standard for ethical behavior. After all, how can anyone argue that the concept, “Do unto others as you would have... Read more →

What Can We Learn From Star Treks' Mission and the Beloved Spock? I have previously blogged about the link between ethics and segments of the popular television show, Star Trek. In this blog, I update that blog and expand the discussion, focusing in part on the overall constraining factor on... Read more →

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Backs First Amendment Right In case you missed it, on April 23 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Pennsylvania school district violated a cheerleader’s First Amendment rights when it suspended her from the squad for F-word Snapchat posts. The majority rejected the bright-line rule used... Read more →

What are the Motivations of the Cancel Culture? According to Dictionary.com, “Cancel culture is the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures or companies after doing something offensive or deemed to be so by one group or another.” When someone has been “canceled,” it means they cease to... Read more →