JofA Cover Concerns Reader

As an educator, CPA and subscriber to the Journal of Accountancy , I was appalled by your selection of the cover for the January 2004 issue. Money does not grow on trees, and growing wealth is more than just money for the taking.

During the past two years, the auditing profession has lost its self-regulatory status to a governmental oversight organization, the PCAOB. The image you chose is reckless at a time when the accounting and auditing profession desperately needs to regain the public’s confidence on issues of independence and ethics. Such an image is extremely inappropriate and in poor taste for starting the new year. Has the accounting and auditing profession forgotten that independence and ethics include both “in fact” and “in appearance” constructs?

Our profession should be more focused on competence, ethics and protecting the public and less focused on developing solicitation, marketing and sales skills. Haven’t we learned anything?

Helen M. Roybark, PhD, CPA
Assistant Professor of Accounting
Radford University
Radford, Virginia