NJ Accountants Lie About Education
November 30th, 2011 Filed under: Accountant Firms — Accounting Author
This is troubling stuff to read, but also not very surprising. Apparently there are some accountants that just don’t want to do the work to be in their profession. If you’re going to get into this field then at least go through all the schooling. If you don’t it WILL catch up to you. Give this article a quick read and you’ll see why:
New Jersey officials say they have uncovered a disturbing trend this year: A record number of accountants — usually considered among the most honest and trusted professionals — have been lying about their education.
Worse yet, they’ve been lying about a class on ethics.
A recent audit of New Jersey’s licensed bean counters from 2006 to 2008 found that 4 percent of them — about 780 of 20,000 — falsely reported they returned to school for the course, which the state requires them to take every three years.
What’s more, many of those caught by the review were also lying about having taken other continuing education classes, required to keep accountants sharp in areas ranging from getting taxpayers the largest refunds to keeping tabs on millions of dollars in public money.
“At a time when we’re seeing increasing financial fraud and the deterioration of trust in the public finance industry, the fact that such a large group of accountants would be so seemingly cavalier about the importance of these courses is troubling,” said Thomas Calcagni, head of the Division of Consumer Affairs, which oversees licensed professionals.
The offenders, who were fined from $500 to $8,000 for the violations, included local tax preparers and school accountants to a state official and members of large accounting firms, according to documents obtained by The Star-Ledger through the state open records law.
NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT
Many of the accountants said in interviews they intended to complete the requirements when they sent in their renewal forms, but never got around to it. They also said they misunderstood some of the rules, which are explained in the very law and ethics course they failed to take.
See the Original Story here
