Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Description
This course focuses on developing awareness of the ethical dimensions and questions embedded in situations faced by accountants in the current business context. Exploration of these ethical dimensions will include insights from moral philosophy, moral / behavioural psychology and analysis of a relevant case studies. This course will benefit anyone seeking an understanding of ethical behaviour within large corporations/firms, or who wishes to enhance their personal ethical awareness as a CPA.
The course will explore key moral questions in professional accounting and applied business ethics at an introductory level, including:
- What are the ethical issues involved in “whistleblowing”?
- How do we make ethical decisions and how does corporate culture influence our decisions?
- What are some of the ethical issues involved with corporate social responsibility and environment, social and governance (ESG) reporting?
Topics Include:
- Psychological influences of individual ethical decision making.
- Sociological and cultural influences on decision making.
- Various theories and ethical issues concerning stakeholder management, corporate social responsibility, and ESG reporting.
- Business ethics case studies, including the collapse of Wirecard.
NOTE: This course description has been revised and reflects updates for 2025. If you have any questions, please contact pdevents@cpaontario.ca.
Key Takeaways
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Analyze issues to consider in “whistleblowing”.
- Describe basic approaches to moral philosophy, theories of business purpose and the responsibilities of business management.
- Describe the ethical dimensions of “corporate social responsibility”.
- Describe the psychological process for individual moral decision making and some of the cultural factors which influence individual moral decisions.
- Describe some psychological and organizational influences that negatively impact professional objectivity.
- Reflect on how psychological and cultural factors influence ethical behaviour.
Who Will Benefit
CPAs working in large organizations or for general interest.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in the course are non-authoritative and have not been formally endorsed by CPA Ontario and do not reflect the views of CPA Ontario. The information included in the course if for general information purposes only.
CPA Ontario, the presenters and the authors do not accept any responsibility or liability that might occur directly or indirectly as a consequence of the use or application of or reliance on this material.
How to Access the Course
This course is a live webinar. You must attend the live course to receive verifiable CPD hours. We recommend you join five minutes prior to the scheduled starting time. To get the full experience of this interactive course, use a computer that has video and microphone capabilities.
If available, course materials can be accessed 2 business days prior to the course and should be downloaded in advance.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal and all other CPA Ontario PD policies can be found here.
Speaker(s)
Susan Cox, CPA, CA is a professional development consultant with extensive experience in the assurance, taxation and national continuing education departments at PwC, in industry at Reed Paper, and most recently as the Director of Professional Development at CPA Ontario since 1999. She earned her CA designation in 1985, and completed the CPA Canada In-Depth Taxation Program in 1992.