Question

John Ryan operates a successful accounting practice, whose main clientele operate in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. Up to last month, he has generally employed one qualified accountant and two part-qualified accountants to aid him to carry out his work. However, as a result of the departure of one of the part-qualified accountants, coupled with a recent increase in business, he is considering outsourcing various tasks through an Eastern Europe internet-based service, Cloud Accounting. This will enable John to contract via this service to freelance accounting contractors registered with Could Accounting. John is planning to outsource the ‘more routine’ aspects of accounting jobs, including preparation of PAYE and VAT returns, accounts preparation for sole traders and partnerships, and preliminary work for audit clients, such as receivables and bank confirmation preparation and follow-up. John does not intend to make any mention of this to his clients and intends to remain the central contact for all liaison with his client base.

Subject: Auditing (Ireland)

Requirement

Outline the ethical considerations of outsourcing work in the manner proposed by John above.                                                                                                                   

Answer 1

1. John Ryan should consider business trust placed upon him from his clientele by not intending to inform them about.

2. He shall consider about confidentiality, protection of the privacy of data of cilent before outsourcing.

3. Business of clientele, their information, business process should not be subjected to harm in any ways whatsoever.

4. Full consent should be obtained from clietele to depict strong business ethics and customer satisfaction.

5. Affiliations in any forms, sources of funding, as well as any possible conflicts of interests have to be declared.