An Historical Perspective on Professional Ethics MAX BLOCK DISTINGUISHED ARTICLE AWARD: The CPA Journal--March 2018 Issue In Brief The commitment to serve the public interest in accounting has eroded, as personal and business relationships with clients and client management increasingly create conflicts of interest. Many such relationships have created barriers... Read more →

Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting: Text and Cases I'm proud to announce that McGraw-Hill Education has just published the 5th edition of my Accounting Ethics textbook, Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting: Text and Cases. I'd like to thank two reviewers of the book and the the... Read more →

Missed Profit and Cash Targets Lead to Firing of CEO General Electric is in trouble. Last week it announced the firing of CEO John Flannery after 14 months on the job as problems developed in its power unit causing GE to warn it would miss profit and cash targets. GE... Read more →

The Case of GE and KPMG A new rule adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires disclosure of the tenure of a public company’s external auditor in the annual report. KPMG recently reported that it has audited GE since 1909. This raises the question whether there should be... Read more →

Data Gathering Controls Can Enhance the Process Artificial intelligence (AI) broadly refers to technologies that make machines “smart.” AI continues the trend in advancement of technology that has unleashed the practical applications, many of which can enhance the decision-making process. AI is powered by algorithms, and algorithms are driven by... Read more →

ACFE 2018 Study Published Fraud can be defined as a deliberate misrepresentation to gain an advantage over another party. Fraud comes in many different forms, including fraud in financial statements, the misappropriation of assets (theft) and subsequent cover-up, and disclosure fraud. In this blog I examine the results of a... Read more →

KPMG-PCAOB Scandal Raises Questions About Oversight of the Accounting Profession In an unprecedented event, on January 22, 2018 it was announced that a former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) staffer, Brian Sweet, who was hired by KPMG in 2015, leaked confidential information about PCAOB's plans to audit the company.... Read more →

Published Research Papers by Steven Mintz You can now follow my academic published papers on bepress. These include articles on the philosophy of ethics, ethics in business, ethics in accounting and higher education ethics. Read more →

What does the "Public Interest" in Accounting Mean? The following blog was first posted by the Public Interest Section of the American Accounting Association in its newsletter on October 14, 2017. Government regulations, whistleblower protections, GAAP reporting standards, and internal control requirements are meaningless and not worth the paper they... Read more →

ASL Group UK recognized my writings under the screen name, Ethics Sage, as one of its top 17 business efficiency organizations that deal with workplace issues. Visit my workplace ethics advice blog to see the advice I have provided and link to my website to find out more about my... Read more →