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.

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)

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 nothing illegal or which contravenes
any regulations is done and making sure that all legal requirements are complied with.
Legal 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. 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.

Acting within the law, and behaving in accordance with these fundamental professional
ethics, you may encounter situations when a further choice exists.
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. Now complete this quick quiz to test your current understanding.