It has been a painful week for me personally. Part of it was my own fault. I was trimming my lawn, when I managed to do something I had never done before—thoroughly weed whack my ankle. I am pretty sure that the scar left on my ankle is a gang symbol, though I’m not sure which one. I think it might be the Smurfs.
But the more painful event in my week was inflicted on me by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. June is my month to report continuing education and renew my license, and I generally benefit from the conferences and sessions that help me maintain my certification. But every other year CPAs in Texas are required to report a four-hour session from a small group of select courses approved by the Board. You might be surprised to know that what caused me so much pain was an ethics course.
There are a number of reasons why that ought not to be true. One relatively obvious one is that I happen to love the topic and teach it for a living. I care deeply about the ethical reasoning and behavior of CPAs, particularly of my students. I am also invigorated by my students when I am with them in the accounting ethics classroom. I cannot tell you how much I learned from my 138 students this past spring as they related to one another in ethics accountability groups, and put together some stunning and meaningful presentations. These students also each developed a set of principles to guide their professional lives. I was challenged and moved by the growth in students’ perspectives during the course.
Another major reason the Board-approved ethics course should not have been a problem for me is that I have a high tolerance for boredom. I am, after all, a CPA, and have been for almost 27 years. I am also a professor who has sat through innumerable commencement speeches and faculty meetings. I may have to pull the hair on my legs to stay awake, but I can usually manage to get through most sessions that normal people would find intolerable.
I had a couple of factors working against me. I had waited till the last minute and had no choice but to sit through the whole course at one time. In addition, I had decided to go the low cost route in selecting my course, insuring an online delivery method that was as interesting as reading the phone book.
You might think I was bored because I already know all this stuff. But the stuff I know was actually the interesting part of the course. The course also covered, but essentially never tested over, innumerable philosophers’ perspectives, a few of which were actually relevant to decisions we make in the accounting profession. And there were endless pages of minutiae to protect the public from such dangers as two CPAs using the same staff and incorrectly representing that they were a partnership. Wow! There oughta be a law! That will bring down the republic!
But it ought not to be this way. This course is a perfect example of why people look at me with a puzzled expression when I talk about how much I enjoy teaching ethics. The nice ones ask, “Can you teach ethics?” Of course, they mean, “Can you teach it up? Can you help people make better decisions?” Everybody knows that you can teach it down; my profession has plenty of examples.
In fact, perhaps the most painful experience of my week was an e-mail from a former student who related having to make an ethical decision at her CPA firm in a ten-minute window. She chose to tell the truth, and did what was right, and it got her fired. It made my blood boil.
She told me that she remembered what I had said in class about having to make hard decisions. And she was writing to say thanks, to say that she was content and her conscience was clear, when she could easily have been writing to tell me I was wrong, and how could she have ever listened to me?
I’m sure there are better ethics continuing education courses that I can take, and maybe two years from now I will open my pockets wider and hope for the best. But I know the best hope for changing the profession is not in this futile biennial requirement.
It is in that classroom I will return to, where hearts and lives are shaped and changed. I have the chance to fan the flame of moral courage in a remarkable group of students from a variety of backgrounds. The accounting profession may not like what they get sometimes. But as long as I have breath, and as long as I prepare Aggies, people like my student are what I am going to send them.
Great read Dr. Shaub, i totally agree that a lot of the ethics classes around are quite boring, but you did an excellent job of making ethics not only fun, but applicable to the real world and to life. Ha, maybe they should hire you to teach these things AND give you CPE credit at the same time! 🙂
don’t be sad! your students love you! you’re an inspiration!
“I may have to pull the hair on my legs to stay awake . . .” Love it!
Way to go Dr. Shaub! Keep preparing and sending ethical Aggies to the marketplace. I am reminded of my own experience as a young staff, had to take an opposing view against my superior’s who proposed a solution to a client that would have unfarily benefit my employer more than the client. The good news was that the client understood my view and adopted my proposed solution instead, which made my superior embarrassed and angry. I was kicked out of the project three days later and never got a chance to work in the more rewarding type consulting project again for the following two years.
I never regretted that experience. In fact I consider the two years of lost opportunities as a gain for a lifetime, because that experience helped me gain the courage to take a stand on principles I believe to be true. I am far from perfect and I still struggle not to make compromises in life, but the turning point sets me in the right direction and as time goes by I believe I will be much closer to my true destination than have I not made that costly decision.
David,
Thanks for sharing that experience. I appreciate that you have some perspective on the back side that my student can’t have yet. I’m grateful that the accounting profession has people like you and my student in it!
You made an impact on this young persons life and they made the right decision. Keep up the good work Dr. Shaub!
You are one of the most interesting professors I have ever had at Texas A&M. You constantly keep your students intrigued in the material we are learning and have us up to date on what is happening in the real world. To be honest, reading about all these ethical dilemmas people are going through terrifies me because I never want to be in the position they were in when the chose the wrong path. It is scary knowing that one short turn the wrong way can lead to major consequences. Even through all these terrifying readings of the world’s largest scandal and people who go along with it, I am encouraged to stay grounded and in good spirits because you motivate us to be as good a person as you are. In my opinion, if I were to be faced with an ethical dilemma, I will think back at Shaub’s class and remember to make the right, ethical choice.
Hearing about situations like the girl who was fired is a scary reality for someone like me. I just hope that being put in the same situation I could make the correct decision as well. I was taught to tell the truth and follow the rules, but I’ve also been taught about the importance of having a job. Being fresh out of school and being thrown into that type of situation will no doubt be one of the most difficult experiences of my life.
Your class has brought a lot of tough decisions into prospective for me. You have made me think about situations that I would have never would have thought to see myself in. I think that you have done more then enough to teach young professionals about the importance of standing up and having the integrity to do the right thing. I feel like I will be much more prepared to stand up to those decisions then I was a few months ago.
Your ethics class has given me perspective. I realized there was potential that I would have to make an ethical decision during my professional career, but I don’t think I realized that so many decisions we make each day require ethical reasoning. I think sometimes I make decisions based on my ethical framework and don’t even realize it. The ethical mindset in a sense makes someone who he is. It affects perspective on life and decisions, both personal and professional. These decisions might be how to account for something or how to treat a person. Ethical training can always be beneficial. While you might not have the power to actually create a person’s ethical perspective, you can share with him your mindset, tell him stories, and spur him to create his own.
It is sad when the ethical choice is the one that causes the most pain. But thank you so much for sharing this experience. Now, I am one of those people that don’t really believe that you can teach ethics. I feel you can teach an awareness of it or even how to handle some situations, but ultimately I bellieve when you put enough pressure on someone, that is when their true ethical character comes out. It maybe they have a strong ethical character, a shaky one, or a just all around unethical character. Teachers can help firm up ethical characters, but the foundation was already there. Ultimately it is the person that makes the decision and the teacher just hopes that what they said will help the shaky ones have a better footing while navigating through the tricky ethical situations.
Coming into this class, I had no idea what to expect. How were we going to talk 6 hours a week about ethics? The way that it had been touched on in previous classes was just more blunt: don’t insider trade, commit fraud, or cheat, and always be independent. These were seemingly such obvious statements, but this course has given me remarkable perspective on the thin line that is so easy to fall off of. I am more aware of the little things I can do as an auditor that may be considered unethical. I think that that is the most important part about this course because otherwise it is easy to just listen to your superior even if you know its wrong. I think that it is important that your student was aware of this and very unfortunate that she was one of the one’s that had to suffer the consequences.
I feel like you are a leader of a young ethical army that you are sending out to fight moral dilemmas in the work place. It sounds a little funny but it is actually very true. I have learned a lot from you and the stories you have told me and my classmates. Today we actually heard this same story about your former student sending you that e-mail. After reading this blog I can sense how mad you were when you say it made your “blood boil”.
I just want to say that even though there are going to be stories you hear about people making the wrong decision and others about someone committing fraud or lying. Just remember that what you are doing in the classroom does help. It has made an impact and it will begin to show in the years to come. I can see the changes in my peers and myself through what we have learned in the classroom. I look at things a little differently than I did before the course started.