About one year ago, the research report Professional Judgment Matters: Assessing the Need for Enhanced Communication and Collaboration was completed. It is available on Google Docs and on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). As noted in the abstract to the report, the goal was to answer the research question: “With regard to professional judgment matters, is there a need for enhanced communication and collaboration by Chartered Accountants?” Based on the results of the academic and professional literature review, the collective views expressed by CAs in face-to-face meetings and by an online survey, and the interest shown in the communications blog, it’s time to collaborate!
Interest in this blog is growing. The blog has about 100 postings to date but the number of pageviews is now more than 13,000. Also, it is encouraging to see that the interest is by professional accountants from around the world. The top 10 countries are the United States, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Malaysia, Philippines and India, in that order.
Because CAs practice in a wide variety of fields, the guidance addresses many different professional judgment matters. For example, the guidance covers the following topics: research, professionalism, judgment, expertise, ethics, skepticism, biases, principles vs rules, education and teaching. It also covers a number of practice areas, such as accounting and auditing, financial reporting, taxation, business and internal auditing.
This guidance is drawn from many diverse sources, including academics, accounting organizations, regulators and standard-setters. For example, refer to the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA Accounting), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia (ICAA), the New Zealand Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (NZAuASB), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants / Canadian Public Accountability Board (CICA / CPAB). It is apparent, however, that the current guidance is both limited and piecemeal, with inadequate attention to national and international collaboration.
Clearly, there is an ongoing need for enhanced collaboration on professional judgment matters. How can this be done? The AICPA and ICAS website pages on professional judgment provide a beginning. Constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement are welcome and appreciated (please e-mail your comments to paul.emile.roy@gmail.com).
