ethical accountant's "TEN" commandments, The

Accountancy SA, Mar 2005 by Dijkman, Jan

I recently saw a cartoon depicting Moses coming down Mount Sinai with the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, and informing the awaiting Israelites that he's got some good news and some bad news. The good news is ... there are only ten of them. The bad news is ... they can't change the name to the 'ten suggestions'!

Judging by some of the complaints and queries that have passed my desk in recent times, I sometimes wonder whether SAICA's members are also treating the Code of Professional Conduct as "Some Suggestions of Professional Conduct", to be adhered to only when all else fails. Or it might merely be proof of the wisdom of Plato, issued many centuries ago when he said that "[g]ood people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws".

Whatever the situation may be, the fact of the matter is that a Code of Professional Conduct does exist, and it contains a number of fundamental principles which members are required to observe in order that the objectives of the Chartered Accountancy profession, namely credibility, professionalism, quality of services and confidence, may be achieved.

The fundamental principles may be summarized as follows (and the good news for Chartered Accountants is ... there are less than ten of them):

1. Thou shalt have integrity - integrity is essentially an attitude of mind and requires members to be fair and honest in their professional dealings.

2. Thou shalt be objective - this quality requires the Chartered Accountant to maintain an impartial attitude and be free of conflicts of interest, prejudice and bias. It also requires a member, particularly one having authority over others, to allow them to develop and hold their own judgement in professional matters.

3. Thou shalt be professionally competent and exercise due care in undertaking and performing professional work. The CA should therefore only undertake to perform services which they are competent to carry out with the necessary skill and diligence. This places a duty on the member to maintain professional knowledge and skill at a level required to ensure that a client or employer receives the advantage of competent professional service based on up-to-date developments in practice, legislation and techniques. In other words, the member has a commitment to continuing professional development.

4. Thou shalt respect the confidentiality of information acquired during the course of performing professional services and should not use or disclose any such information without proper and specific authority unless there is a legal or professional right or duty to disclose. This duty continues even after the relationship has been terminated.

5. Thou shalt believe professionally. This requires a member to act in a manner consistent with the good reputation of the profession and refrain ferom any conduct which might bring discredit to the profession. In essence, this means that the member (a) should not practice discrimination in any form whatsoever, (b) should adhere to the ethical standards set by SAICA's Code even when practicing in a jurisdiction where the ethical standards may be lower, (c) should comply with all the accepted norms of legality, decency, honesty and truthfulness when engaging in publicity, advertising and solicitation, and (d) should conduct himself/ herself in a manner which will promote co-operation and good relations between members and within the profession.

6. Thou shalt carry out professional services in accordance with the relevant technial and professinal standards. In particular, this requires the member in public practice to adhere to the independence requirements contained in section 11 of the Code, which have assumed greater importance in the wake of a number of high profile corporate collapses. In return for the performance of professional services with integrity and objectivity and in accordance with the appropriate technical standards, the member is entitled to be fairly remunerated. SAICA does not determine what an acceptable fee is and this matter is primarily a matter for negotiation between the member and the client.

A distinguishing characteristic of a profession is the acceptance of its responsibility to the public. The public relies on the integrity and objectivity of members to maintain the orderly functioning of commerce, and this public interest responsibility should influence the way that members act professionally in order to ensure the collective well-being of the community of people and institutions they serve. Strict adherence to the fundamental principles of the Code of Professional Conduct, and not treating them as mere suggestions, will enable the Chartered Accountancy profession to achieve its objectives, to the benefit of all.

If even the six fundamental principles in the ethical accountant's "ten" commandments are too many to remember, I would encourage members to adopt the wise words of Marcus Aurelius as their guiding ethical principle: "If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it".