1. Ethics in consulting

2. Agenda Authentic Consulting-Definition
Ethics in Consulting-Discuss the Importance
Honesty
Integrity
Confidentiality
Time Management
Responsibility
Dignity
Values
Compliance
Communication
Fun
Conclusion
References

3. Authentic Consulting
“Putting your experiences with client into words during working is called Authentic behavior with a client” (Block, 1999, p. 42).
“Something more is expected by Authentic leadership than just having authentic attitudes and beliefs; consistently working according to their beliefs even in tackling the difficult moral issues is something expected by authentic leaders other than the above mentioned characteristics.” (Verbos, Gerard, Forshey, Harding & Miller, 2007, p. 23).
An important thing for both consultant and client in consulting is authentic consulting. Authentic Behavior “Putting your experiences with client into words during working is called Authentic behavior with a client” (Block, 1999, p. 42) is required in authentic consulting. Authentic behavior by the consultants produces favorable results for consultant in the form of faith and trust and client commitment which are necessary for good client and consultant relationship. “Values, character and moral capacity are the elements of Authentic Leadership”(Verbos, Gerard, Forshey, Harding & Miller, 2007, p. 22). In a good and strong consulting, authentic behavior is very important. “Something more is expected by Authentic leadership than just having authentic attitudes and beliefs; consistently working according to their beliefs even in tackling the difficult moral issues is something expected by authentic leaders other than the above mentioned characteristics.” (Verbos, Gerard, Forshey, Harding & Miller, 2007, p. 23).

4. Honesty & Integrity
Don’t show capacities and capabilities more than you have
Foresee and exceed the expectations
Be Honest always
Don’t involve in immoral business activities
Be answerable
Do no Harm
Mastilak, C., Matuszewski, L., Miller, F., & Woods, A. (2011). Designing Honesty into Your Organization. Strategic Finance, 93(6),
Honesty and strong moral and ethical principles and practices are necessary for a code of ethics. Honesty is the best element in creating a favorable image and reputation. For a strong relationship, it is necessary to know what is being expected and what you can do. If you lack any skill or knowledge about something, it is required in honesty and integrity to convey this to the client. Integrity also requires not to involve in any immoral business activity. Being answerable to accountable for actions motivates to put the maximum input and get the best job done.

5. Confidentiality & Time management
Confidentiality Certificate
Electronic information will be made secure and in codes if possible
Time Management
Time period should be set at the start of the project
Further examination and follow-up of the each stage of the project
Changes in time period for project will be written and include in charter of project
Confidentiality
Business secrets will not be disclosed to other outsider people. “Confidentiality is described as a core value and an ethical principle in codes of research ethics” (Stiles & Petrila, 2011, p. 335). All the parties involved in the project will sign a certificate of confidentiality. To ensure confidentiality and that all the information of the project remain with the client, all the information will be transferred to the client. If there is transmission of any information through electronic means, it is necessary to transfer these information through encryption to secure the information from any illegal access. All the information of consultant as well as client should always be secured “to make useful this data to only those people who should have this” (Stiles & Petrila, 2011, p. 352).
Time Management
The time period for the project or any other task during the project will be set at the start of the project. Any change in these time periods will be updated as soon as possible. After the completion of each stage of project, an examination and evaluation of this stage will be made. “one of the most important and valuable as well insufficient resources is time, measured and treated in the best interests of organizational effective and efficient working” Bluedorn & Denhardt, 1988, p. 303). All the changes and updates in the time period and schedules of the project should be discussed and agreed upon by both client and consultant to complete the project at schedule time. If there is a need of changes to be made in the time periods of the project, these changes will be written and will be included in the charter of the project.

6. Responsibility & Dignity
What do mean by it?
Responsibility
Behavioral Standards
Roles and obligations are clear
Taking responsibility
Mismatching of interest
Dignity
Self Respect
Avoiding prejudices
Sexual Harassment, intimidation, and exploitation
Responsibility:
What do mean by Responsibility? In the Dictionary responsibility is described as “ One is said to have responsibility when he/she without any supervision, has the ability or authority to act or make decisions by himself/herself”.
Behavioral Standards-Taking responsibility and being answerable of own actions as well as making others answerable of their actions.
Roles and obligations are clear-This step of business relationship is related to the expectations each party sets to other. Each party’s roles and responsibilities, what each one is going to do?, how the things will be done? and at which time every thing will be done? All these things are discussed with each other to hold relationship for long term and if not communicated, there are no agreed rules and regulations for accountability to each other and this will be a risky situation for the relationship. Timing of work as well as time period for work is set during all this discussion and setting up of expectations because during work time there should be work and no personal activity.
Taking responsibility- Learn from what mistakes you have done and try not to commit them again in future. This learning from mistakes would only be possible if you admit what you have done wrong.
Mismatching of interest-Protect the rights of others and don’t harm anyone, any person, anything and any group etc. in any situation. Don’t protecting the rights of others and harming them can lead to use something or someone for personal interests and a negative image will be created on that one you are using.
Dignity:
Dictionary states the dignity as, “The feelings in one to be important (self-importance) ”, and respect is “to hold esteem or honor”.
Not allowing any one to degrade or harm you or your honor is Self-Respect. It is ‘The feelings to value yourself, to consider yourself important.’
Avoiding prejudices-Give importance to other peoples whatever their feelings and beliefs are and whether they are in accordance to you or against your feelings and beliefs. Peoples are not degraded and disregarded on the basis of their feelings and beliefs. Culture of the company and differences of roles and levels in a company may be the examples in a professional environment.
Sexual harassment, intimidation, and exploitation-Age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and disability are protected under laws. Language and socioeconomic status are other consideration which although are not protected under laws but still they should be respected.

7. Values & compliance Values Compliance Related to having ethics
Personal
Company
Compliance
GAAP
Sarbanes-Oaxley
Consultants
The company for which a CPA is doing work as a consultant definitely would have some set of values and CPA must follow these values of the company. The company working on the basis of some values will perform better and raise its profits whatever the company or industry is, if these values have importance for owners, leaders and employees.
AICPA states the importance of values as, when the changes are made with the changing dynamics of global economy, the core values of a company helps it to maintain its uniqueness and differentiated values.
Continuing Education and Life-Long Learning: Continuing education is given importance by the CPAs beyond only getting certificates, and is valued in learning new skills and knowledge continuously.
Competence: High quality performance in a capable, efficient and best way is given by CPAs.
They are aware of Broad Business Issues: CPAs are aware of the business issues and other realities of the business.
Objectivity: CPAs tackle the issues and information without any difficulty of distortions, personal interests or gains and biases , and any conflict of interest between the parties.
Consultants needs to follow the values of the company he or she is working for. When a consultant follow the values of the company he/she is working for, he/she makes the company not to change.
GAAP: The accounting procedures and rules for the preparation, presentation and reporting of financial statements.
SEC makes must for public organizations to follow the GAAP. GAAP are framed and established for public, private and non-profit entities by FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board).
Due to the Enron scandal, Sarbanes Oxley was included in law in Important point of this is that it is necessary for both CEO and CFO to sign off the financial statements. They can be sent to jail for fraud, if they falsify the financial statements. The consultants must be compliant with the rules and regulations framed by any government entity or the entity to of which they are members. If they are not compliant with, their license may be cancelled and they can lose their documents of qualification etc.

8. Communication & fun Communication Fun
Make sure there are no specific releases on file
FERPA
HIPAA
Required follow up times
After initial meeting
Focus groups
Throughout the project
End of project completion
Professional Conversation
Face to face
Phone
Fun
Make Ethics Fun
Quizzes
Puzzles
Team competition for ethic videos
Upcoming events
Companywide
Division
Recognition programs
Client
Employees
Ethics requires to communicate with the people in the company. The way consultants are communicating with clients and some other specific conditions and requirements are also important in determining what communication is required to involve. The limits of the individuals in the industry should be known. The major examples are FERPA (Department of Education, 2011) and HIPAA (Department of Labor, 2012).
There is also room for fun in ethics and these are the ways how fun is created ethically. Fun games and puzzles can be created to teach the policies etc. by human resources in the organization. Conducting competitions between different teams to create ethical videos and winners can be rewarded with prizes within the organization’s policies. Another thing can be that having a knowledge of upcoming events of the organization and involving the individuals from the organization. There should be recognition and appreciation of individuals for achieving different goals and other achievements, but the appreciation should be within the organization’s policies.

9. conclusion
“Developments in technology and the new ways of communication and media has made the people globally to observe the organization’s behavior closely, and hence highlight the presence or absence of a company’s Code of Ethics” (Stohl, Stohl, & Popova, 2009).
“Developments in technology and the new ways of communication and media has made the people globally to observe the organization’s behavior closely, and hence highlight the presence or absence of a company’s Code of Ethics” (Stohl, Stohl, & Popova, 2009). This is a very good statement describing the necessity of adopting and applying the ethics in everyday life specially in an organization. Improvements and developments in technology and the invention of new ways of communication have made the monitoring and watching of the consultants possible. The consultants must be capable of representing themselves and the organizations for the improvement and developments they show. If the consultants follow a code of ethics, it will help them to gain professional trust as well as good reputation from both the public and companies.

10. References
Academy of Management Code of Ethics. (2011). Academy of Management Journal, 54(6),
Block, P. (1999). Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pheiffer.
Bluedorn, A.C., & Denhardt, R.B. (1988). Time and Organizations. Journal Of Management, 14(2),
Department of Education. (2011, April 8th). Family Educational++6 Rights to Privacy Act. Retrieved April 1, 2012, from US Department of Education:
 Department of Labor. (2012, April). Department of Labor-Find it by topic-Health Plans-Portability of Health Plans. Retrieved from plans/portability.htm
Dictionary.com, LLC.. (2012). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from
Code of ethics; Retrieved March 25, 2012
Retrieved March 31, 2012
Retrieved March 31, 2012
Retrieved March 31, 2012

11. References
Mastilak, C., Matuszewski, L., Miller, F., & Woods, A. (2011). Designing Honesty into Your Organization. Strategic Finance, 93(6),
Stiles, P.G, & Petrila, J. (2011). Research and confidentiality: Legal issues and risk management strategies. Psychology, Public Policy, And Law, 17(3), Doi: /a
Verbos, A., Gerard, J., Forshey, P., Harding, C., & Miller, J. (2007). The Positive Ethical Organization: Enacting a Living Code of Ethics and Ethical Organizational Identity. Journal Of Business Ethics, 76(1), doi: /s
Stohl, C., Stohl, M., & Popova, L. (2009, December 1). A New Generation of Corporate Codes of Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics. doi: /s