CPAs exhorted to be ‘champions of truth’

Jose G. Araullo, co-managing partner of Punongbayan & Araullo, CPAs, has called on his fellow colleagues to be true to their calling and be champions of truth during an annual gathering of certified public accountants.

The first joint conference of two major accounting organizations, the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Public Practice (ACPAPP), held at the Cebu Plaza Hotel in Cebu City, had invited Araullo to speak on the role of certified public accountants in a changing business environment.

In his speech, Araullo stated that CPAs have the professional responsibility "to protect the investing public and society as a whole by ensuring that financial reports accurately and fairly represent the financial condition of the client and the result of the operations."

"This calls us to resist client pressures and economic incentives to cut corners, to accept self-serving interpretations of accounting standards, or to pursue creative areas of tax avoidance that raise auditing issues," he said.

To ensure the integrity of internal and external audits – and of the professional itself – Araullo maintains that it is not enough to create an oversight body to police the ranks. He argues that rotation of audit partners every five years or more will not prevent fraud "if the professional on the job is dishonest."

Araullo emphasized, "we are persons first before we are accountants and auditors and as such, we are called upon to demonstrate consistently the virtues of honesty, integrity, and discipline."

In conclusion, Araullo urged his fellow CPAs to renew their commitment "to the tenets that characterize the nature of our calling – competence, integrity and independence."

Araullo, who co-founded the public accounting firm Punongbayan & Araullo with Benjamin Punongbayan, belongs to the A-list of trusted accounting professionals in the country today. His long career, which combines professional accounting skills with CEO-level operating experience in private industry, has earned him top management positions in several prestigious institutions, including Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Philippine National Bank. In 1992, PICPA chose him as the Outstanding CPA in Public Practice.

His speech at the joint annual national conference of CPAs in Public Practice was an appropriate topic for discussion for the overall conference theme of "Excellence and Unity in Times of Challenge." It was a reflection of the challenges that the accounting profession faced this year when it came under fire after accounting firm Arthur Andersen was indicted for obstruction of justice in connection with the collapse of the energy company Enron. It was soon followed by similar accounting scandals at large US corporations.