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CASB's mission is to prepare CA students to be leading members of the CA profession. However, being a CA is more than just having the technical competencies of the profession. The pervasive qualities and skills of the CA profession include ethical behaviour and professionalism. It is this vital relationship between technical skills and ethical behaviour that makes the CA profession so unique.
Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the following issues, which are excerpts from the Student Resource Guide.
Ethical Behaviour and Professionalism
The pervasive qualities and skills of the CA profession include ethical behaviour and professionalism.
The CA School of Business is more than just an educational institution; it is the gateway to an honoured profession whose reputation is based on fairness, trust and integrity.
When students join the CASB program there is an expectation by members of the profession, the public and other students that they adopt the values of the profession.
It is the commitment to integrity in everything that CAs do that earns them their reputation for trustworthiness and the confidence of clients, employers and the public at large.
CASB seeks to instil ethical behaviour and professionalism in its students, and that's why all students will be required to sign the CASB Honour Pledge at the beginning of each module starting after April 1, 2008 .
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Collaboration in Learning
CASB defines collaboration as the active process of working cooperatively to create knowledge and understanding.
Collaboration is encouraged in the CASB program because it can help ensure that students have a deeper understanding of module material through active knowledge sharing, such as a discussion of the topics, sharing of ideas and research resources.
While learning styles vary, many students find collaboration with fellow students and interaction with mentors to be a helpful part of the learning process.
Collaboration works when everyone participates. Being passive and not contributing in a group environment does not benefit the learning process.
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Composing an Individual Response
CASB requires that each student compose his or her own answers to module tasks so that they can fully grasp and master module content. This is because CASB is more concerned that a student is gaining understanding—learning how to get the answer the next time a similar question is asked—rather than simply submitting a “correct” answer to a module task.
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Use of Templates
CASB strongly discourages the use of templates in task submissions. When used without real understanding, the use of templates can jeopardize a student's learning. In certain tasks, students will be explicitly instructed to build the tool themselves. In other tasks, use of a generic template tool will be permitted as long as the student acknowledges the source of the tool. However, students should always check with the online facilitator for clarification on the use of templates.
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Dishonesty in the CASB Program
CASB defines dishonesty as behaviour that breaches the values of the CA profession. Dishonesty includes plagiarism, the enabling of plagiarism, the theft of another or former student's work, or unethical behaviour, such as lying and cheating.
Plagiarism is when a student submits someone else's work as their own. This can take many forms, such as copying the answer(s) of another or former student's submission, or copying answers from other sources, such as websites or textbooks.
Plagiarism is not only a breach of CA values, it defeats the purpose of a competency-based education program by failing to give CA students the knowledge and skills required as a chartered accountant.
Enabling plagiarism is also a breach of CA values. When a student allows another student to plagiarize their work, this is equivalent to condoning cheating.
In investigating cases where plagiarism is suspected, CASB carefully compares student submissions, looking for substantially similar word or number choices, phrasing, logical argument and/or formatting. This comparison process makes use of a sophisticated software program called Wcopyfind, which was developed by the University of Virginia . The software examines documents for text portions that have matching words and phrases and generates reports identifying substantially similar task submissions.
Students found guilty of dishonesty in the CASB program will face severe penalties, which may include a $500 fine, repeating a module, a letter of reprimand, a letter to the student's employer, a six month suspension, and/or a complaint to the provincial institute's professional conduct committee (the penalties for dishonesty are explained in more detail in an updated Education Policy Manual, section B1.2.5 - Offences of Dishonesty in the CASB Program).
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