Alex Wong, CPA, is a sole practitioner. He is having lunch with one of his long-time clients, Hudson Hughes. Hudson is very excited because he just hired a new bookkeeper, Laura Ling. This name seems familiar to Alex and so after lunch he does a web search and finds a picture of Laura on the Internet. He realizes that he knows Laura because she used to be the bookkeeper for a previous client, Mark’s Meats.

He remembers her because she was fired for stealing from Mark’s. He recalls that she took cash from the cash sales and altered the sales and deposit records to hide the theft. The owner, Mark, didn’t believe she stole a large sum before the theft was discovered. Because she was a single mother with small children, Mark fired her but did not get anyone else involved. Alex only knew about the theft because he conducted a review engagement of Mark’s Meats for the year the fraud took place. Alex is concerned for Hudson Hughes, Laura’s new employer, but he is not sure what he should do.

Required

a. Discuss the above in terms of the code of professional conduct.

b. Apply the ethical framework to this situation.