Upholding Standards of Academic Integrity and Professionalism
From the CPA Western School of Business
As students and candidates complete the CPA Professional Education Program ( CPA PEP ), the CPA preparatory courses , and the CPA Advanced Certificate in Accounting and Finance ( ACAF ) through the CPA Western School of Business ( CPAWSB or the School ), it is vital that they continue to uphold standards of academic integrity and professionalism . In the education context , academic integrity and plagiarism policies protect both the individual learning experience and the profession . Students and candidates should not receive credit for work that they do not do . In addition to risking strict penalties when caught , they risk the possibility of not developing their own competencies fully , which can ultimately harm their reputation and the reputation of the profession . The School monitors assignments for plagiarism and investigates complaints of professional misconduct . Violations of academic integrity include enabling plagiarism , stealing another person ’ s work , buying or trading assignments , lying , and cheating . Plagiarism includes submitting another person ’ s work as your own — for example , using part or all of another person ’ s assignment ; copying text and improperly citing it ; and using a solution provided by CPA Canada as part or all of a response . Professional misconduct includes behaving unethically and failing to treat others ( students , candidates , facilitators , and staff ) with respect . To help illustrate these behaviours , here are recent examples of cases investigated by CPAWSB , along with sample decisions . A quiz is provided at the end so you can test your knowledge .
Enabling plagiarism Student A and Student B are enrolled in the same CPA preparatory course . They regularly meet to discuss course assignments and exchange ideas , even reviewing each other ’ s assignments to ensure that all points have been covered . Student B is approached by Student C , who is enrolled in the same course . Student C is struggling with one of the concepts of an assignment and asks Student B to share his work . After obtaining consent from Student A , Student B shares Student A ’ s completed assignment and Student B ’ s partially completed assignment with Student C , expecting that Student C will use these assignments for reference purposes only . Instead , Student C copies from both assignments , and all three assignments get flagged . Although Student C admits fault , all three students receive similar penalties . The decision : Student A and Student B enabled Student C ’ s plagiarism . In addition to being unethical , enabling plagiarism — creating conditions that allow someone else to submit the work of a third person — is considered as serious a violation as plagiarism because it fosters dishonest behaviour and hinders an important step of the learning process : applying concepts to assignment cases and projects . Without this step , learning is incomplete . Therefore , the consequences for those who plagiarize and those who enable plagiarism are the same .
Copying solutions Candidate D submits her weekly CPA PEP assignment and , in return , receives the related assignment solutions from CPA Canada . Candidate D uses excerpts from the CPA Canada solutions when submitting her revisions to the assignment .
The decision : Candidate D is guilty of plagiarism .
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48 CPABC in Focus • Jan / Feb 2017