道德规范是指导个人行为的道德原则。适当的道德行为意味着不但考虑什么对你自己最有利，而且也考虑到他人的最高利益。个人、公司、政府机关和其他人都仰赖会计报告来下结论。因此，精确准备的、有最小偏见的报告就非常重要。

私营企业和公共实体都发展了一套道德标准来指导它们的会计人员。

管理会计师协会(IMA)在服务于它们的雇主、从事的职业和公众的基础上准备了一套行为标准来指导管理会计师。如标准所述，会计师有责任去维持适当的专业水平;不泄露机密信息;避免利害冲突;公平并客观地交流信息。

美国注册公共会计师协会(AICPA)也已经发展了一套标准来指导它的成员。这些标准统称为职业行为准则或职业道德准则，其目的在于逐步灌输公众对公共会计职业的信任感。这些标准要求公共注册会计师实施敏感的职业和道德判断，努力做到服务于公众的利益，以公众的信任为荣，展示对专业性的承诺;正直地执行所有的职业责任，保持客观性，避免利益上的冲突;遵从职业技能和要素道德标准，不断提高专业水平;根据道德标准决定专业服务的范围和性质。

两个行为准则都把诚信和客观性当作职业会计人员的道德行为的两个关键要素。诚信意味着与别人交流时诚实和坦率;客观性意味着在利益发生冲突时公正和自由。会计人员缺乏诚信和/或客观性时，无法令人相信他会提供完整及相关信息以供使用者作出明智的判断或决定。道德行为的其他要素包括独立性、能力和接受义务，即为雇主、客户和公众的最佳利益提供服务的义务。

具备好的道德对一家企业的长期盈利能力是必要的，这一点越来越明显。这就要求企业从管理层到线上的工人等各个层次都要懂得道德纪律。就会计人员和管理人员而言，有些道德与他们有直接的关系，如欺诈。欺诈可以分为两种类型:雇员欺诈和管理层欺诈。雇员欺诈一般是将现金或其他财物直接转化为个人利益，其典型的做法是雇员避开了公司对个人收益的内部控制结构。尽管如此，如果一家公司的内部控制系统是有效的，则可以避免或检测到挪用公款或资金侵占。典型的管理欺诈包括在财务数据和报告上的误述，以此获得额外的补偿、晋升或者逃过因表现不佳而带来的惩罚。管理人员欺诈经常凌驾于内部控制结构之上。允许和帮助这些欺诈背后的问题是它们常与公司监管不力相关。因此无论对管理人员还是会计人员来说，适当的内部控制结构都是一个非常重要的问题。

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How to Become a CPA for International Students

Fulfill the Education Requirement.First of all，the requirements to become a CPA are determined by the Board of Accountancy in each of the 50 states and 5 jurisdictions.To make things complicated，the rules in each jurisdictions are slightly different.In general，the state boards require at least a Bachelor degree and most of them require a Master's degree(150 semester hours)from a US accredited，4-year college or educational institution.What does it mean?It means that if you graduate from a university outside of the US，you'll need to have your transcript evaluated by the foreign credentials evaluation agency.It also means that community colleges and 3-year Bachelor degrees do not qualify—but you may be grateful to know that Delaware provides the(only)exception by allowing Associate degree holder to sit for the exam.If this apply to you，stop comparing different state requirements and go directly to Delaware.If you have a Bachelor degree，California is an additional choice because it only needs 120 semester hours to qualify for both the exam and the CPA license.You can achieve the full 150 semester hours by taking accounting and business courses.If you choose to take it online，please make sure that the specific state you choose allows online courses.

Sit for the Uniform CPA Exam.If you fulfill the above，you are eligible to sit for the CPA exam.This computer-based examination is a comprehensive coverage of accounting(in US GAAP)，audit，business and the US regulations.Given you need a score of 75 and above to pass the exam and the fact that less than 50%of candidates fail，it is wise to check out the various CPA exam review courses that are available either as live classes or in self-study format.

Take the CPA Ethics Exam.The CPA Ethics Exam should be a breeze after the Uniform CPA exam.It is an 11-hour self-study course on concepts such as Independence and the Sarbene-Oxley Act.You can retake it as required within one year.

Gain Relevant Working Experience.This is another tricky part for international candidates.The working experience(normally 1-2 years)has to be supervised and/or verified by a current CPA license holder.If your boss is not a practicing CPA，you need to pick a state that only requires the CPA to verify and not supervise(i.e.any practicing CPA will do).A few states such as Illinois have a two-tier system in which case a CPA certificate can be granted to candidates without working experience.There are however restrictions to what a certificate holder can do.