Lesson From Yesteryear

Sixty years ago I was apprenticed to an English auditor. One day my boss asked me to be in his office just before midday, and I was told to sit on a chair away from his desk.

At noon a client, the owner of a large textile manufacturing company and my boss’s fishing buddy, arrived. My employer did not hesitate to tell his friend, “There’s something wrong with these inventory sheets.” Without argument the client accepted the proffered papers and took them away to be corrected. I was then sent back to work, having learned the lesson.

Where can an accounting student today obtain such an education? Can this type of ethical behavior be legislated?

Kenneth S. Most
Professor Emeritus
Florida International University
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida