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Introduction
Welcome to the Ethics and Professional Skills module (EPSM). This module, which is comprised of
10 units, focuses on developing the complete range of vital skills employers seek whilst retaining a
focus on being an ethical accountant.

The module will make professional accountants more attractive to employers by increasing their
effectiveness in the workplace and enhancing their career potential. Through an interactive
learning experience, the module equips students with the key skills required for success in the
Strategic Professional exams – particularly Strategic Business Leader. There is a complete unit of
the module (Unit 9) which explains just that. Unit 9 explains how what you have learned in the
ethics and professional skills module links to and prepares you for the type of tasks you could face
in the Strategic Professional exams. This unit explains what professional skills are and how they
are used in the workplace. It highlights Strategic Professional examination requirements from
specimens and past exams where some of these skills are needed and illustrate how they can help
you to perform better in these exams, both technically and professionally.

Guidance and support

If you require any guidance and/or support in relation to EPSM, please visit our FAQ page here
where you can find answers to frequently asked questions. Alternatively if you can't find an answer
Contact Us today.

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Accessing the module
The module content is fully responsive and is designed to work on all devices (smartphones,
tablets, laptops, desktops), operating systems and up-to-date internet browsers. We recommend
using a laptop or desktop with a Chrome browser for optimal viewing.

Progress and completion

Progress and completion of the module will be tracked via the main course page as shown below.
The main course page provides quick access to each unit and gives a summary of your progress.
Once you have completed a unit, there will be a tick on the left-hand side of the unit folder as
shown here for units 1-3.

When you first log in you will only have access to Unit 1: Ethics and professionalism. Once you
have completed Unit 1, Units 2-7 will become available. You can complete those units in any order
you choose, although we recommend that you complete them in numerical order. Units 8 and 9 will
only become available when Units 2-7 have been completed. Finally, Unit 10 will become available
once Units 8 and 9 have been completed.

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Units
Unit 1: Ethics and professionalism. This unit introduces you to broad ethical and professional
values which underpin all the other professional skills and behaviours which are explored in this
module.

Unit 2: Personal effectiveness. This unit is about maximising the quantity and quality of your
work output and how you communicate and interact with others, making the most of the resources
you have.

Unit 3: Communication and interpersonal skills. This unit is specifically about how we
communicate effectively with others in a business environment, including clients, customers,
colleagues and external authorities.

Unit 4: Commercial awareness. This unit introduces the concept of commercial awareness as
the ability to view situations from a commercial or business perspective. You’ll consider factors that
influence the success of a business, and understand the business processes, relationships, risk
and cost.

Unit 5: Leadership and team working. This unit introduces leadership and working in teams and
explores different type of leadership approaches and traits which can be adopted or adapted at
any level of the organisation.

Unit 6: Innovation and scepticism. This unit is about encouraging open mindedness and
innovative thinking. It also introduces a related concept of professional scepticism, which requires
professionals to question the status quo and to critically evaluate what is presented to them and to
challenge and probe where justified.

Unit 7: Data analytics. Data analytics is a fast-emerging area of data science, which is
increasingly becoming a core and mainstream skill required by professionals in all sectors of
business. This unit explains the process of data analytics, what types of approaches there are, and
explains the main tools available for solving data analytics problems using real-life and practical
examples.

Unit 8: Integrated case study. This unit will cover the professional skills developed in the
previous seven units using a developing story about a senior manager applying for a role and then
working for a company which is facing a serious strategic threat and where you as the senior
manager have to analyse and evaluate the problems facing the company and recommend viable
solutions.

Unit 9: Strategic professional. This unit is aimed at students of the ACCA Qualification to help
them understand how what they have learned in the first 8 units of the module will help them
prepare for their Strategic Professional examinations, particularly Strategic Business Leader. This
unit highlights the key aspects of this module that they will be able to apply in the Strategic
Professional examinations and how they can use these skills to perform more effectively, both
technically and professionally.

Unit 10: Final assessment. At the end of the module, you are required to demonstrate your
learning across the first seven units by answering 14 multiple choice questions drawn from a bank
of questions. If you achieve 50% or more in this test you will have successfully completed the
module.

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Navigation through the module
Navigation and interaction throughout the module is simple. All units are accessed via the main
course page (shown on page 2 of this document), and different sections within the units are
accessed from the menu bar on the left-hand side of each unit as shown below.

To progress through each section simply scroll down as you work through the content. If you wish
to review earlier content you can either scroll back up or alternatively, use the menu bar on the left-
hand side to move to earlier sections.

If you wish to go back to the main course page, you can select the back button located at the top of
the menu bar in each unit.

Back
button to
return to
main
course
page

Menu bar

Once you have completed a section within a unit, Completion bar

the circle on the menu bar which is adjacent to the
name of the section will change from an open circle
to a filled-in circle. In order to complete a unit, every
section within that unit must be fully worked
through, at which point the completion bar at the top
will display ‘100% complete’.
Complete sections
If you reach the end of a unit and the completion
bar displays less than 100% complete, please
review the list of sections in the menu bar to see
which sections you have not yet fully completed.

In order to progress through EPSM, each unit must

be 100% complete. Incomplete sections

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Videos

There are a series of videos throughout the module to support your learning.

To begin each video you should press the play button in the middle of the video screen as shown
below. Once a video is playing, you can pause and resume it by pressing the play/pause button.

You can also skip or go back through the video by dragging the slider at the bottom of the screen.

Interactive content

In all units some content will be presented to you in an interactive style. You may need to view
content in the following ways:

(1) Selecting multiple tabs:

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(2) Scrolling horizontally using the arrows provided:

(3) Expanding headings using the + symbol to reveal further information:

(4) Selecting hotspots to reveal more information:

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 Ensure you have worked through all content within a section before you move on to the
next section. This means:

• Reading all content that is displayed when scrolling vertically

• Reading all interactive content
• Watching all videos

Activities
There are several activity types you will encounter in the module.

These include drag and drop, ranking and hotspot activities, as well as multiple choice questions
and free response reflective exercises. All of these activities are designed to help you put into
practice what you have learned.

Drag and drop Typically require you to drag answers to questions into drop zones

Ranking These are similar to drag and drop and require you to re-order items by
dragging and dropping them into the correct order

Hotspot Require you to select one or more pre-defined area(s) on an image or

graph to reveal further information

Multiple choice Require you to select the correct answer(s) from the options provided
questions

Reflective exercises

Throughout the module there are certain activities which require you to complete a report, write
free text or produce a presentation or spreadsheet. To complete these activities, you will need to
work on a separate document. In each case, you will either be:

• directed to use a word processor such as Word or Pages or a presentation software package
such as PowerPoint, or

• a template will be provided for you to download, as shown below.

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We recommend that these activities are completed on a desktop computer or a laptop for the best
experience.

You should save these activities in a dedicated folder on your device to allow you to refer back to
them should you wish to do so, either during your EPSM studies or at a later point.

Quizzes
Throughout the module you will be required to attempt quizzes which you need to pass in order to
progress.

If you do not pass a quiz you can retake it until you have scored the passing mark of 50%. In some
cases, it may help to review the content in that section again or alternatively you can just re-take
the test straight away. Immediate feedback is given on most quizzes.

Unit 8 is the integrated case study unit and it will help you apply all the skills you have learned
throughout the module up to that point.

End of module final assessment

As explained earlier in this introduction, your final test of competence is to successfully pass an
objective test in Unit 10 of the module, which consists of 14 questions; two selected from separate
banks of questions, relating to the first 7 units of the module and it tests the knowledge and skills
within those units.

You are now ready to begin EPSM, starting with Unit 1. You can access this guidance again at any
time on the main course page.

Good luck!

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