Saskatoon Farm Advisor Meeting

Mark Capustin, PhD., Ernst & Young LLP: Ethics & Advising

This past November CAFA hosted a conference on farm transition, discussing a wide variety of issues including legal, accounting and tax, financial planning and how to approach the conversations. Many ethical considerations bear upon these matters, and I would like to take the opportunity to explore some of these, as well as ethics in general and how ethical considerations can frame an advisor’s approach. The topics include:

• Guiding ethical principals and their applications;
• Ethics of acting on behalf of another person as a representative;
• Informed consent – what it is and how do you obtain it;
• The ethics of coaxing reluctant clients to have difficult conversations; Obligation associated with acting as an expert;
• Whatever else comes up in the discussion.

Mark Capustin was raised on a small grain farm near Prince Albert and attended the Universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and McMaster. He holds a PhD in the philosophy of law and political philosophy and has taught university courses in many areas  of philosophy, including ethics. Tired of being an underemployed philosopher, Mark took a job preparing tax returns and has been working in accounting and tax ever since, with most of my focus on farm clients.