1. Evaluate Mark’s conduct with respect to the Six Pillars of Character.

2. Did Mark violate any ethics rules either of the state board or AICPA? Explain.

Mark started his own practice ten years ago. He is a CPA and member of the AICPA. His firm grew quickly, helped along with the aid of his former employer Robert McAdams of Pure Water Company.

McAdams liked the way Mark performed all the payroll functions and filed tax returns and that Mark maintained all payroll and tax records for Pure Water Company. McAdams trusted Mark to make all necessary tax payments using e-filing for employee and employer taxes.

McAdams lauded Mark’s services to all his acquaintances in social and professional organizations. The two discussed Mark paying a referral fee to McAdams for any future business, which they agreed to do. Fitzgerald Flooring was just referred to Mark by McAdams. Mark sent McAdams the agreed upon fee.

During the last two years McAdams' health began to fail, and Mark was often communicating with McAdams’ wife Juanita. Juanita would send any correspondence from tax agencies directly to Mark with a blank check to cover the taxes and Mark’s fees.

Recently, Juanita has also had some health issues and her son Lane is handling all financial matters for his parents. In the stack of bills, Lane finds three past due notices from the IRS. When discussing the correspondence with his mother, Juanita says to send all that to Mark as he handles all the tax records and filing. Lane shows his mother how the IRS claims that taxes have not been filed for the last six years.

Juanita says, “No, no, that cannot be right. Mark always handles that. He is such a nice young man. He files our taxes and maintains our records. He has done it for the last ten years. I sent him the correspondence with a check to cover the taxes and his fees. Mark takes good care of us and this can’t be right.”

In the meantime, Fitzgerald Flooring is being audited by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance agency. The request for payroll records and filings is sent by Fitzgerald to Mark to make copies of all documents. Fitzgerald is quite dismayed to find that Mark tells them he has no payroll records or filings for Fitzgerald. Even though he promised Fitzgerald to maintain these records, he did not. He deleted them from the computer by mistake. Fitzgerald was miffed to learn of this and contacted the state board of accountancy, claiming an ethics violation by Mark.

Mark ignored three requests (emails, phone calls, and registered letters) from the state board to respond with documents and for an interview about Fitzgerald Flooring. In the meantime, the state board received notice from the IRS that Mark was banned from practicing before the IRS due to the six years of delinquent tax filings on behalf of McAdams and the Pure Water Company.