Course 10 – Ethics and Earnings Management
This 3.0 credit course tackles the question: Is it ethical to “manage” the earnings number – that is, to use legitimate discretion in the preparation of the financial statements to manage the numbers in a way that serves the interests of the manager independent of whether it serves the interest of the firm’s owners? We begin by creating an ethical framework based on the professional code of ethics. We then cover the what, why, how, and when of earnings management behavior, describing and illustrating the variety of ways in which managers use their discretion in operating, investing, financing, and reporting decisions to influence the financial reports. In the vast majority of these cases, we rely on real-world examples, taken from publicly-available financial statements that received unqualified audit opinions. For the various categories of earnings management, we consider how they can be evaluated within the ethical framework we established at the beginning of the course. The result is an informed and thoughtful approach to assessing whether a given earnings management practice is consistent with professional ethics, a valuable tool whether you are an external auditor reviewing a set of statements, a preparer of the statements, or an outsider attempting to determine the usefulness of the statements.
Course 10 Learning Objectives
- Describe the major elements of the accounting professional code of ethics.
- Define earnings management and link it to the elements of the code of ethics.
- Explain why earnings management is practiced.
- List and describe the two basic forms of earnings management: real and reporting.
- Identify common situations when earnings management is practiced.
Single Video Course Note
The Ethics and Earnings Management course is a single video lecture course which means there will be pauses in the video where you are prompted to answer knowledge check questions. We highly recommend that you watch the video lecture and answer each associated knowledge check question only when you are prompted to do so. However, each of the knowledge checks associated with the lecture video can be accessed in sequence after the assessment quiz. The knowledge checks have been made available in this manner for easy access for review in the future.
Course Components
- PRATTedu Resources
- PRATTedu Program Structure
- Ethics and Earnings Management + Knowledge Checks
- Assessment Quiz (must score 70%)
CPE Requirements
- The assessment Quiz must be completed satisfactorily no later than one year after enrollment, at which time your access to the website will expire.
- A 70% minimum score on the Assessment Quiz is required for satisfactory completion and to receive a certificate.
Course Navigation
Main Course Page Navigation (Current Page)
The main course page for each course consists of 6 sections: (1) Course description; (2) Learning objectives; (3) Course components; (4) CPE requirements; (5) Course navigation; and (6) the master course navigator, which allows you to quickly jump to the various lessons that make up the course. The course structure and resources, the course videos, and the final assessment quiz.
Master Course Navigation
Simply complete the lessons in order. At the bottom of each lesson, are two buttons: Previous Lesson or Next Lesson. We also include excerpts in the buttons so you can quickly identify the content in each direction. You can always go back to the beginning of the course (course intro page) by clicking the “back to Course 1 – Introduction to Financial Statements link. Note: At the bottom of each completed lesson (right above the previous/next buttons) it will state “Complete Lesson” make sure you click it before moving on.
MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR CERTIFICATE! Please read below:
You must mark each page of our courses as complete for our system to register for completion of a course and generate a certificate. The Structure and Resources section is typically missed by many users, simply scroll to the bottom of each page and click the blue “Mark Complete” button and enjoy your course!
Course Information
Course Instructor
Basic Enrollment
Scoring at least 70% on the assessment quiz after completion of this course earns a Certificate of Completion worth 3 hour of continuing professional education (CPE) credits.