Code of Conduct


Updated 11.12.18

Welcome to ICPAS Connect! Thank you for being part of our online community. To ensure the best possible experience for all community members, we have established some basic guidelines and best practices for participation.

By joining and using this community, you agree that you have read and will follow these rules and guidelines. You also agree to reserve discussions, shared files and content to that best suited to the medium.

ICPAS Connect is a collaborative environment in which to ask the advice of your peers, benefit from their experience, and participate in an ongoing conversation. In order to preserve an environment that encourages both civil and fruitful dialogue, we reserve the right to delete posts and/or documents and suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violate these rules.

Questions should be submitted to the community manager via the Contact Us link on this site.

Disclaimer

Any advice or information delivered via the online Community will be based upon limited research and a limited analysis of the underlying facts. Such advice or information is also dependent upon the accuracy and completeness of the representations and information provided.

Due to these limitations and the related risks, it may or may not be appropriate for someone to proceed with any decision solely on the basis of advice or information delivered via the Community.

Individuals posting responses on the Community are not liable for any losses or other damages (including but not limited to consequential, indirect, lost profits, or punitive damages) due to actions taken by others as a result of advice or information provided through the Community.

 

The Rules

  • Respect others. Discussions are meant to stimulate conversations not create contention. Feel free to disagree with others but be respectful of their opinions. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Please extend the benefit of the doubt to newer guests and members.
  • Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group only when specifically requested.
  • Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and have properly attributed to the content creator. Please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. It’s advisable to contact the owner if you would like permission to reuse their content. You may include links to material on other websites if the material is properly/legally posted on those sites.
  • Use caution when discussing products. Information posted on the discussion groups and in the libraries is available for all community members to see, and is subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
  • Don’t post commercial messages or documents. This includes, but is not limited to, job opportunities, promotional material, product announcements, CPE programs. ICPAS reserves the right to remove such messages and suspend or terminate membership in the community for violators.  
  • Use caution when discussing client matters. Be careful not to disclose confidential client information even in cases where the client name is not mentioned.  Disclosure of confidential client information without a client’s consent would violate the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (see sections ET 1.700 and ET 0.400.09).
  • Keep it clean. All offensive, profane, vulgar, threatening, abusive, sexist, racist, illegal, discriminatory or defamatory comments, content or images are strictly prohibited. Such posts will be removed at the moderators’ discretion.
  • Post to the appropriate communities. Posting your message, question or document to the appropriate community helps ensure all messages receive the best response by eliminating "noise."

 

Discussion Group Best Practices

  • Subject Lines: State concisely and clearly the topic of your post in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your posting and makes it easier for members to search the archives by subject.
  • Your Signature and Profile: Be open and honest about who you are. Include a signature tag on all your messages. Update your profile to include a bio and your picture. Your education and job history also help round out your profile.
  • Wrap-up Post: If the nature of your question suggests that replies come directly to you, instead of to the community at large, include a wrap-up post. You can thank those who have replied and/or let others know that you have received the information you need.
  • Administrative Messages: Do not send administrative messages, such as “remove me from the list,” to the group. Instead, use the web interface to change your settings or to remove yourself from a list. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin under your new email address. Simply update your profile.

Terms of Use

This site is provided as a service for the members of Illinois CPA Society.  Illinois CPA Society is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by Illinois CPA Society or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall Illinois CPA Society be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site.

Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal materials.  Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants Illinois CPA Society and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.

Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.

Illinois CPA Society does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of Illinois CPA Society we will take all appropriate action.

Illinois CPA Society reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.
 

Terms of Use

The complete ICPAS Term of Use can be found here.

Privacy Policy

The ICPAS Privacy Policy can be found here.