Ethical Considerations for Providing Professional Services Online

CPA Journal, The, May 2008 by Yamamura, Jeanne H, Grupe, Fritz H

An accounting firm expanding on the Internet will likely explore several different strategies. They range from offering only selected accounting services, to providing a complete line of the firm's services to clients online. Alternatively, a firm may simply want clients to be able to receive information from the firm's website. In between these extremes fall such activities as marketing, instruction, referral, and chatrooms or bulletin boards.

Providing services online enables practitioners to serve customers remotely; however, it also creates the potential for both intentional and inadvertent abuse. Only limited regulatory or professional standards specifically address online service providers. In addition, most professional codes of conduct fail to address Internet delivery of services. As a result, CPAs are left with little ethical guidance when problems unique to the Internet arise. Professionals may not be fully aware of the ethical issues that could arise or how their codes apply on the Internet.

One place to start is with the guidelines adopted by the medical and counseling professions that specifically address Internet practice. The following sections identify differences occurring in an online service environment, discuss ethical issues raised, and propose guidelines for an online code of ethics for business and financial professionals.

Online Professional Service Environment

The host of benefits accompanying Internet service delivery motivates an increasing number of firms to join the ranks of those providing online services. Benefits include easy access to an expanded group of potential customers at relatively low cost, potential time-savings for service providers as well as customers, and the ability to offer uniquely web-based services.

However, validity, security, access, and communications problems arise. On the Internet, clients find it difficult to evaluate professional qualifications and the validity and quality of the service provided Consider the recent cases involving 15-year-olds providing legal and investing advice (i.e., Jonathan Lebed's manipulation of the stock market and Marcus Arnold's dispensing of legal advice under the online handle "LawGuyl975." See "Faking It," by Michael Lewis, New York Times Magazine, July 15, 2001). security problems arise and confidential information may be exposed or stolen (e.g., H&R Block's embarrassment in 2000 when its online filing service revealed prior filers' complete tax information).

Ease of access may lead to misunderstandings about availability and response time. Because the Internet is open around the clock, clients may expect immediate responses from professional service providers. Internet interactions also carry the potential for serious misunderstandings. Face-to-face meetings enable participants to gather nonverbal, visual, and auditory clues that enhance communication and reduce confusion. Communication problems may also result from an inability on the part of the professional or the client to use or understand technology. As a result, Internet-based service differs from that based in traditional settings. Practitioners providing services online must ensure that their company's code of ethics addresses these differences.

Ethical Issues

While the Internet's rapid expansion has enabled an equally rapid expansion of webbased professional services, it has not been matched by the consideration and understanding of the related ethical implications. The growth of new opportunities is accompanied by equal, if not greater, growth in ethical issues for businesses seeking to expand their offerings via the Internet. These issues include the quality of services and information, privacy and security, nature of relationship, forms of delivery, contractual considerations, and regulation and enforcement.

Quality of services and information. Providing services via the Internet raises questions about the validity of the advice offered by the professional. For example: Is such advice valid? Is the recipient able to evaluate the quality of the advice received? Alternatively, is the information provided by the client valid? Does an obligation exist on the part of the professional to verify the information received from Internet clients?

The propriety of services offered via the Internet raises other questions: Would the services be better provided in a one-on-one setting? Should online service providers be required to make clients aware that better services might be provided in a personal, one-on-one meeting because of the increased knowledge-sharing that would result?

Does Internet communication prevent or hamper awareness of location-specific factors, events, or cultural issues that may result in inappropriate service, such as the failure to consider local tax consequences due to a lack of knowledge regarding the client's location?

Does a business that offers information on a website for educational or other purposes bear a responsibility to ensure the quality of the information? Does an obligation exist to update the information? What responsibilities exist for information obtained from other sources, such as hyperlinks? Do the sources of all information need to be appropriately referenced?