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CAs are not immune to financial hardship. Fortunately, most members who experience such hardship manage to regain their financial health and go on to enjoy the fruits of their labour as CAs.
This might have been the case for one former member-"Dennis"-had he not chosen fraud as the solution to his financial woes.
This fictionalized account is based loosely on an actual case before the Professional Conduct Enquiry Committee (PCEC). Names and circumstances have been changed to preserve anonymity.
The situation
Dennis worked as the senior partner and chief administrator of a small accounting firm. He wrote the firm's cheques, deposited the receipts, maintained the books, and prepared all of the financial reporting.
Dennis's own finances were in trouble. He'd experienced a number of financial setbacks that weren't his doing, and his long career in public practice had not yielded the kind of financial success he'd expected. His partners seemed to be in much better financial health, and his resentment toward them was growing.
The incident that tipped Dennis over the edge was a minor one. At the end of tax season, he balanced the books to the count of returns and found everything in order. Shortly after that, he found some unexplained cash in...