Foundation in Professionalism

You must work through the units in the order in which they are presented. Your
progress in each section is tracked and when you exit each one, you will see how much
time you have spent on the material, and the current status of the section. Only section
8 will be assessed and it requires you to achieve a level of understanding to complete
the module.
Help

If you need technical or content-related assistance when using this module, please use
methods outlined in the Help menu.

1. Introduction
2. Professionalism
3. Law and regulation
4. Professional ethics
5. Personal effectiveness at work
6 Personal values
7. Case study
8. End of module test

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 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.
At ACCA we believe accountants who are good - who are professional and ethical - make good accountants. 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 - understand what it means
to work and act professionally and ethically in the workplace.

So if you study for any of our Foundation-level qualifications and want a certificate as proof of the exams you
have completed, you are required to complete Foundations in Professionalism. This is an online, interactive
module, designed to help you develop your understanding of what it means to act professionally and ethically in
the work you carry out.

You can complete Foundations in Professionalism before or after completing the exam component of the
qualification you are aiming to achieve and you only need to successfully complete the module once, even if you
decide to complete one or more of our qualifications.

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.

You can access Foundations in Professionalism via myACCA.

ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business (RQF Level 4) students

If you are eligible and wish to complete the ACCA Diploma in Accounting and Business (RQF Level 4), you will
need to complete the Foundations in Professionalism module as part of the requirements.