The Canada Revenue Agency was recently granted the power to impose new “preparer penalties” on individuals who have received payment for preparing a tax return in which the taxpayer is found to have understated its taxes payable. Tax preparers are liable for penalties of up to $100,000 if the CRA finds that the preparer was aware that the taxpayer was under-reporting its taxes payable. Formerly, only the taxpayer could be penalized.

Required:
Given that the rules of conduct for professional accountants already prohibit PAs from being associated with false or misleading information and require them to conduct themselves with integrity, why do you think these preparer penalties were considered necessary by federal law makers?