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 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.
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.