The morality of moonlighting in IT and dilemma of Chartered Accountants

Employees of many IT companies were caught moonlighting recently. It became an issue of morality and ethics. Techies were found working for competitors of the main organization they work for. The debate was never settled in the first place but now CAs have also entered the arena as moonlighter techies face the dilemma of showing their extra income made from moonlighting.

Most companies file their tax declarations in the months of December or January. Moonlighters are knocking doors of CAs to know how to show their extra income. Certain sections of the IT act assert that tax must be levied on a payment of more than 30,000 Rs from a company or individual. The moonlighters face this dilemma as stealing their extra income would be more than difficult in today’s age of increasing transparency in processes and technological advancements. Not declaring this extra income would be treated as a case of tax evasion by the authorities.

Chartered Accountants are the only hope of these employees now as only they can show the way out. The dictionary definition of moonlighting says nothing morally or ethically unacceptable about the practice as it is nothing but the ‘second job’ of a person. But this second job, when having a conflict of interest with the main organization of an employee raises questions on the legal as well as moral sanctity of moonlighting.

This is not the first time CAs and finance professionals are presented with this kind of conundrum. But this time it is more interesting than ever to see how these bright minds find a way out of this mind-baffling situation. These are the kind of situations that make finance as a domain stand out and truly challenging. It fascinates every one of us when we realise how big of a responsibility Chartered Accountants have to fulfill and the amount of respect they command in society. But this is what they worked hard for five long years, sacrificing most pleasures of life. This is the true beauty of this profession of numbers.

If you wish to be one of these smart professionals in the finance domain, visit our website to know more about prominent finance courses like US CPA, ACCA, US CMA, etc. VGLD is your one-stop destination for all the information and resources you need to learn and add these highly reputed courses to your name.