BKD establishes ethics oversight committee

by Ashleigh Behlmann

SBJ Contributing Writer

sbj@sbj.net

Two of the largest CPA firms in the nation are taking steps to ensure ethical standards among its public policy practices.

In a joint announcement March 10, Springfield-based BKD LLP and Seattle-based Moss Adams LLP said they have formed internal advisory bodies to provide additional oversight of their professional and business practices.

BKD and Moss Adams are regional certified public accounting firms that rank among the top 10 largest nationally. As such, they are charged with meeting public expectations of integrity and objectivity in performing daily business tasks.

"This is supposed to be something that sets a tone within BKD. If you want to know what is important to a firm, look at what they are saying, but also look where they are spending their money. This is where we are spending our money," said BKD Managing Partner William Fingland Jr.

BKD's three-person Public Interest Council comprises Ray Dockweiler, a retired professor of accounting from the University of Missouri-Columbia; Stephen Hayford, professor of ethics and dispute resolution at Indiana University-Bloomington; and Thomas Stewart, a lawyer and managing partner at Lathrop and Gage LC in Kansas City.

"The well-known recent financial fiascos concern BKD," Dockweiler said. "I am very happy that they are concerned; I think all CPA firms ought to be. BKD wants to subject their practices and policies to outside review and I think that speaks very highly of them."

Fingland expects that committee members will fill two-to three-year terms.

Robert Beckton, a spokesman for American Institution of Certified Public Accountants, hopes that this step taken by BKD and Moss Adams will soon be taken by others in their field.

"We are very excited that these two firms have formed this council," Beckton said. "It is a necessary step in increasing transparency and accountability. We hope that this encourages other firms to do the same thing, although it's impossible to predict what the groundswell movement might be. It adds another level of oversight, and we believe that the timing is right for other firms to take on this issue."

Fingland believes that the oversight committee BKD had gathered is appropriately balanced.

"We chose three different kinds of people. Ray Dockweiler gives the council a feel for public accounting and what debits and credits are all about," Fingland said. "Stephen Hayford is a professor of ethics and dispute resolution. The study of ethics includes a lot more than just, Do the right thing.' It involves, How do I get to the right thing?' We wanted that to be part of this discussion.

"And finally when you are talking about doing the right thing a lot of that involves the law. So we have Thomas Stewart which is good because we wanted someone who understood the dynamics of managing a group as well as the law. And common among them had to be a willingness to speak their minds."

The group met March 25 to construct a plan of action. According to Fingland, BKD has asked that they have a working plan in order by their May management committee meeting, have tentative reports and observations by the July Partner in Charge and management committee meeting, and that one or all of the members attend their leadership conference in the fall and provide the entire group with observations.

Fingland declined to disclose the cost of the project, but did say the sum was six figures. Payment of the committee members will be handled through Lathrop and Gage.

"We have decided as a management committee that we have to commit to this for multi-years before we say anything about whether or not this council is working as we had intended it to work," said Fingland.

"It provides focus. The whole purpose of this is to focus on doing the right thing for the public interest. It will give us as upper management good input, but it will also say to the younger staff that this firm cares and they had better care as well. It gives them the confidence when they are faced with an issue about where the line is with a client to say, The line is not where you have drawn it.' And they know that this firm has the demeanor to support that kind of decision process."

BKD LLP and Moss Adams LLP chose to make a joint announcement because of their longtime working relationship.

"BKD and Moss Adams have been friendly firms for many years," Fingland said. "Everybody has a friend in their industry that they share ideas and discuss problems with. Because of their location on the West coast, it has been very easy for us to maintain a strong, noncompetitive relationship."