Ethics Flashcards
Set of shared beliefs or moral principles about what is good or what is bad
Ethics
Behavior that follows a set of rules and moral principles, based on shared beliefs about what behavior is acceptable and unacceptable
Ethical conduct/behavior
Goes beyond what is legally required
Consistent with society’s ethical expectations
Written set of moral principals that acts as a general guide to behavior; a way to communicate the values, principles, and expectations of what constitutes acceptable behavior for members
Code of ethics
Does not imply gauranteed behavior;
May include rules or standards
Gneral guide for how community members should act; they communicate the organization’s values and overall expectations regarding member behavior, but they do not identify specific behaviors required of community members
May include specific standards or behavior or only state principles of conduct without specific standard or guidance
Code of conduct
A way for a profession to communicate to the public that its members will use their knowledge and skills to serve their client in an honest and ethical manner
Professional code of ethics/conduct
The standard that matches client return requirements and risk tolerance, and the characteristics of securities recommended
suitability standard
(vs fiduciary)
requires professionals to use their knowledge and expertise to act in the best interest of the client
Fiduciary (stronger than suitability)
What are the three challenges to ethical behavior?
- Individuals overestimating their own ethical character
- situational influences (money, prestige, loyalty, peers)
- rules-based compliance culture (people just checking the boxes that they followed the rules)
What objective of ethical conduct best distinguishes from legal conduct?
Ethical conduct:
Considers and benefits multiple stakeholders
Framework designed to lead to better decision making processes:
Framework for Ethical Decision Making
used for all decisions
- Identify: stakeholders, facts, ethical principles, conflicts of interest
- Consider: alternative actions, situational influences, seek other perspectives
- Decide & act:
- Reflect: was the outcome anticipated?
Framework for Ethical Decision Making
Benchmarks for minimally acceptable behavior of community members are:
Standards of conduct
Applied to specific communities or societal groups and identify specific behaviors required of community members
Balances self-interest with both the direct and indirect consequences of the behavior on others
Ethical Conduct
Societies’ beliefs about what is considered good or bad conduct
Ethical Principles
Plays an important part in establishing a profession because a client relationship is based on trust, whereby the professional puts his or her client’s interest first:
Code of ethics
The code enables a relationship to be established on the basis of trust, because clients rely heavily on the specialized knowledge and skills of professionals to achieve their goals
Consciously considering long-term consequences will help offset:
Situational influences
When focusing on the short-term factors, the likelihood of poor ethical decision making increases
This approach can oversimplify decision making and may not encourage decision makers to consider the larger picture
Compliance approach
.A strong compliance culture may be a good start in developing an ethical culture but can become another situational influence that may result in employees failing to consider other important factors
Shown by thinking that your intelligence level will prevent you from acting in an unethical manner
Overconfidence bias
Trading while in possession of material nonpublic information is an example of situation that:
Not illegal; but CFAI considers unethical
(legal, but unethical)