As a professional professional accountancy accountancy body, body, it is important important to ACCA to ensure all all our students – irrespective of which qualification they are studying for and to which level they wish to take their career in accountancy and finance – understand what it means to work and act professional professionally ly and ethically in the workplace. That is why all our students are required to complete Foundations in rofessionalism which is an online, interactive module designed to help you develop and understand what it means to act professionally and ethically in the work you carry out. !ou can complete Foundations in rofessionalism before or after completing your e"ams and you only need to successfully complete the module once, even if you decide to complete one or more of our qualifications. #owever, please note you will also be required to complete our rofessional $thics module if you decide to continue your studies on the ACCA %ualification. There is no set time allocated to completing Foundations in rofessionalism. &e encourage you to complete the module at your own pace to allow you to reflect on what you have learnt.
STRUCTURE OF THE MODULE This module is structured in a particular way to help you in your 'ourney towards professional status. (ection ) of this module defines professionalism, distinguishing a profession from other occupations, and e"plains what professionalism means at work. (ection ) also briefly e"plains the origin and development of accounting as a profession* it identifies the professional and regulatory bodies relevant to accountancy and their purposes* and it e"plains the principle of +acting in the public interest. The rest of the module contains the following four broad themes•
aw and regulation /(ection 01
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rofessional ethics /(ection 21
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ersonal effectiveness /(ection 31
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ersonal values /(ection 41
THE PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR DECISION FILTER The first level of the filter is about understanding how to comply with the law in all areas where the accountant works. This means ensuring that nothing is done that is illegal or contravenes any regulations, and making sure that all legal requirements are complied with. egal obligations include preventing theft, fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering. They also involve complying with data protection, security, health and safety, record keeping, financial reporting, audit and filing requirements.
As a professional it is not enough to behave in accordance with law alone. 5any of the decisions that must be made may not be affected by the law or regulation, so how should the accountant act in these situations6 7f the law or accounting regulation is silent or unclear, the behaviour of the accountant should be guided by a professional code of conduct. The relevant code of conduct will be based on compliance with the following fundamental ethical principles•
7ntegrity
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8b'ectivity
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rofessional competence and due care
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Confidentiality
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rofessional behaviour
These fundamental principles are embedded into the ACCA Code of $thics and Conduct, and should act as a framework to guide your actions and decisions at work.
Acting within the law, and behaving in accordance with these fundamental professional ethics, you may encounter situations when a further choice e"ists. Figure 1: Professiona !e"a#iour $e%ision fi&er
8nce behaviour complies fully with the law and is consistent with fundamental principles of professional behaviour, further choices are still available, but the scope becomes much narrower. For e"ample there may be a choice to do something in one way or another, such as how to communicate with someone, or whether to act immediately or delay a decision. The choices that you make at this level of the filter require you to consider your personal values and use your own individual 'udgement. This is where your personal ethical values come in. The figure opposite can also be presented as a simple flow chart to guide your decision9making.
The decision flowchart below is a systematic way of thinking about how you act and behave at work and the sequence in which you, as a professional, should normally filter your decisions. Figure ': Fo(%"ar& of &"e )rofessiona an$ e&"i%a $e%ision*+a,ing )ro%ess
The Foundations in rofessionalism module will help you put this decision9making filter into practice. :ow complete this quick qui; to test your current understanding.
