What is Professional Competence and Due Care

The importance of ethics in the accounting discipline has increased in recent years. A Mexican company reported a slower profit growth than expected, hiring external auditors to research the reasons behind this economic growth slowdown of a profitable company. This empirical research is the key for the success of any newly born firm (especially for small and medium sized firms), to establish the safeguards to avoid corruption and fraud, offering awareness to those eager to grow in the business environment. The firm needed an integral revision of the company's finances and operations to discover the role of the persons involved in the creation of the fake invoices and to enforce the needed safeguards to avoid recurrent breaches of trust. External auditors prove to be an important tool to provide a fresh perspective about the breach of trust in the accounting professional ethical code and its criminal implications.