Exemplification:

Exemplification is the use of examples to explain or elaborate an idea. The author uses the credit card service as an example to illustrate how far accounting outsourcing could go on geography and services. In the eleventh paragraph, McGee writes, "Credit card services have been outsourced to the Caribbean, India and other low-cost jurisdictions. In the case of India, professional services such as tax preparation have also been outsourced." The two examples give readers an alert: the accounting outsourcing may go wrong due to the differences of accounting principles and the standard of services. To demonstrate the risk in a direct way, McGee gives another example. In the twelfth paragraph, McGee writes, "For example, a CPA may be ethically required to disclose to clients the fact that the work may be outsourced but there is apparently no requirement to disclose the fact that it may be sent overseas and that the tax return or whatever may be prepared by a non-U.S. certified public accountant (Mintz 2004)." With those two examples, the readers can briefly understand what situation and result they may get when the public accounting firms outsource some of their jobs.

McGee then takes the tax return preparation service in India as an example. Because India right now has a whole industry developed recent years that based on the tax return preparation service from overseas. Through the example, McGee brings two problems forward to the readers: how could a AICPA member "determine in advance which Indian third-party tax return preparers are sufficiently competent," and "it is difficult to see how these requirement can be met if the work is outsourced overseas." The readers can visualize the risk of outsourcing their accountancy jobs to another country and want to thoroughly consider the possible accounting issues that might appear.

Description:

Description provides the significant details which explain ideas. In the thirteenth paragraph, McGee describes the arguments on the accounting outsourcing policy. He writes, "Proponents of the current policy might be quick to point out that the domestic firm would not retain the services of an Indian firm that is not qualified to do the work, which may or may not be true. Also, it could be pointed out that the Indian accountants are using the same tax software that American firms use and that it does not make much different whether the Indian accountant preparing the return is sitting in an office in India or is a recent immigrant sitting in an office in New York or Kansas. The argument may be made that there is no need to inform clients as long as the CPA maintains control and reviews the return before it is sent to IRS." McGee admits the proponents are correct theoretically. But in reality, the client might has different view in terms of quantity. So from an ethical perspective, the client should be informed if there are some services are going to be outsourced.

Division and classification:

It is very important for an author to analyze and group similar ideas. In the article, McGee divides the ethics that accounting outsourcing may effect into integrity and objectivity, compliance with standards, and confidential client information. The divisions ensure that no reader would get confused by long complicated passages, and establish a parallel construction of the article.

Comparison and Contrast:

Comparison and contrast are the methods of organizing and developing two or more ideas. In the last section of the article, McGee compares the cost of accountancy service overseas and domestic. He suggests that there is a significant difference. "The work can be done for up to 50 percent less and using outsiders makes it possible to get the work done without adding people to existing staff." The comparison gives the readers a direct image of accounting outsourcing. Actually, most businessmen and businesswomen will understand why so many accounting firms are willing to outsource their jobs, even if there is a risk of fail performing duty. Further more, some entrepreneurs may even consider asking their accountancy service providers to outsource a number of accountancy jobs overseas. So that they can bargain with their accounting firms for a discount of accountancy services.

Conclusion:

Ethical Issues in Outsourcing Accounting and Tax Services is a good article about accounting issues. Through the article, I learned a lot of details about accounting outsourcing. The most important thing I have learned, is how false accounting information, chaos financial management and duty crime would happen during accountancy. In my opinion, if not intend, the three major issues are caused by ineffective management, null communication and information security. Firstly, a third-party company is not a branch of the chosen accounting firm. Therefore the process of a accountancy job can not be fully monitored. Secondly, different cultures have different understanding of words. For instance, even for a Indian accountant who has studied the U.S. tax law, the influence of Indian tax law does not fade away. Thirdly, accounting firms mostly exchanging information through internet, which means identity theft might be the outcome. Overall, the accounting outsourcing is a good example of accounting issues. Though it is only a miniature of accounting profession, however, in which I can learn valuable lessons from other accounting professionals' loss. As an accounting major student, knowing why should I obey the accounting standards and rules is much important than how to obey them.