§ 542.2 — Legislative intent

Iowa § 542.2

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XIII: COMMERCE
• Ch. 542: PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Text

It is the policy of this state, and the purpose of this chapter, to promote the reliability
of information that is used for guidance in financial transactions or for accounting for
or assessing the financial status or performance of commercial, noncommercial, and
governmental enterprises. The reliance of the public in general and of the business
community in particular on sound financial reporting imposes on persons engaged in such
practice certain obligations both to their clients and to the public. These obligations, which
this chapter is intended to enforce, include the obligation to maintain independence in
thought and action, to strive continuously to improve one’s professional skills, to observe
where applicable generally accepted accounting principles and generally accepted auditing
standards, to promote sound and informative financial reporting, to hold the affairs of clients
in confidence, and to maintain high standards of personal conduct in all matters affecting
one’s fitness to practice public accountancy. The public interest requires that persons
professing special competence in accountancy or offering assurance as to the reliability or
fairness of presentation of such information shall have demonstrated their qualifications
to do so, and that persons who have not demonstrated and maintained such qualifications
not be permitted to represent themselves as having such special competence or to offer
such assurance; that the conduct of persons licensed as having special competence in
accountancy be regulated in all aspects of their professional work; that a public authority
competent to prescribe and assess the qualifications and to regulate the conduct of licensees
be established; and that the use of titles that have a capacity or tendency to deceive the
public as to the status or competence of the persons using such titles be prohibited.