FOUNDATIONS IN PROFESSIONALISM

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION
I. Introduction As a professional accountancy body, it is important to ACCA to ensure 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 professionally and ethically in the workplace. That is why all our students are required to complete Foundations in Professionalism 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. You can complete Foundations in Professionalism before or after completing your exams and you only need to successfully complete the module once, even if you decide to complete one or more of our qualifications. However, please note you will also be required to complete our Professional Ethics module if you decide to continue your studies on the ACCA Qualification. There is no set time allocated to completing Foundations in Professionalism. We encourage you to complete the module at your own pace to allow you to reflect on what you have learnt. II. Structure of the module This module is structured in a particular way to help you in your journey towards professional status. Section 2 of this module defines professionalism, distinguishing a profession from other occupations, and explains what professionalism means at work. Section 2 also briefly explains the origin and development of accounting as a profession; it identifies the professional and regulatory bodies relevant to accountancy and their purposes; and it explains the principle of acting in the public interest. The rest of the module contains the following four broad themes:

Law and regulation (Section 3) Professional ethics (Section 4) Personal effectiveness (Section 5) Personal values (Section 6)

III. The professional and the ethical behavior 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.

Legal obligations include: preventing theft, fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering 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. Many of the decisions that must be made may not be affected by the law or regulation, so how should the accountant act in these situations? If 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:

Integrity Objectivity Professional competence and due care Confidentiality Professional behaviour

These fundamental principles are embedded into the ACCA Code of Ethics and Conduct, and should act as a framework to guide your actions and decisions at work. Figure 1: Professional behaviour decision filter

Once 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 example: 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 judgement. This is where your personal ethical values come in. The figure opposite can also be presented as a simple flow chart to guide your decision-making. 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 2: Flowchart of the professional and ethical decision-making process

The Foundations in Professionalism module will help you put this decision-making filter into practice.