Ethics: Conflicts of interest – micro course

Professional ethics, including the management of conflicts of interest, is attracting increased interest worldwide from the public, regulators, standard setters, and the profession. Failure to demonstrate ethical behaviour, including responding appropriately to conflict of interest situations, may erode public trust in the accounting profession.

Many professional accountants believe they can identify, evaluate, and address a conflict of interest when one arises. However, many complaints received by CA ANZ, involve conflicts that are identifiable to a neutral observer. In these cases, the conflict of interest can often be attributable to a loss of perspective, rationalizing the conflict or an inability to identify a conflict of interest due to familiarity with a client or stakeholder. This tells us is that professional accountants, regardless of their level of experience, can develop a ‘blind spot’ when it comes to identifying conflicts of interest.

Irrespective of where you are in your career, it’s recommended that you take the time to check your ‘blind spot’ regularly and implement procedures to minimize the risk of complaints due to an unrecognised or unmitigated conflict of interest.

This micro course is designed to further your understanding of conflict of interest situations from the Conflict of interest guide - CAANZ 2021. You will complete a reflection activity to identify your own 'blind spots', explore your obligations under the various applicable codes, standards, and legislation relevant to your role and jurisdiction. You will recap the process for identifying, evaluating, and addressing conflicts of interest and explore interactive case studies of conflict of interest situations to practice applying the process.

Key benefits of attending this course :

• Enhance your awareness and understanding of conflict of interest dilemmas to develop the confidence to identify, evaluate and address conflicts of interest.
• Gain a clear understanding of your obligations by reviewing your role and the jurisdiction where you work to ensure compliance with codes, standards, and legislation applicable to you, regarding conflicts of interest.
• Elevate your confidence to tackle conflicts of interest dilemmas by applying your knowledge to practical real-world scenarios.

Learning Outcomes

By completing this micro course, you’ll be able to:

• Reflect on professional and personal roles and relationships to identify potential, perceived and actual conflict of interest threats;
• Identify obligations under codes, standards, and legislation applicable to your role and jurisdiction;
• Apply steps to identify, evaluate and address conflicts of interest threats in common professional scenarios.
  

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