In your response to at least two peers, discuss actions and consequences that should be taken in response to a violation of their selected principle. Use the following questions to help guide your responses:

• What actions or strategies could you or others take to remediate the ethical issues?
• What are some repercussions of not abiding by your peer's selected principle from a legal, business, or general professional perspective?

"The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) code of professional conduct includes objectivity and independence as one of its principles. Objectivity and independence for an accountant means that there should be a sense of allegiance to the accounting practices as opposed to clients or firms. Objectively looking at accounting performance allows for a more pure look at the financial position. In a public setting, the principle of independence means that the accountant is a separate entity from the client or firm asking for financial audit. In a private setting, independence is not possible as the accountant is within the firm which makes objectivity all the more important.

A situation may arise where a practitioner believes it is in the best interest of his or her job to not maintain a degree of objectivity. This could happen because accounting audits imply a company is facing financial hardship which could cause loss of jobs. The practitioner may be tempted to try looking at data from different angles to see if certain reports are more favorable than others and only present the favorable outcomes. "

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