1 Professional standards
Upholding scrupulously high standards of integrity is a mainstay of membership of a reputable professional body. By learning and using ACCA’s code of conduct you are helping to lay the foundations for your future membership. Demonstrating that you’ve reviewed and understood the code will be a CPD requirement when you become an ACCA member. But good conduct is much more than just red tape – it’s essential for your performance and good for business and can help boost your job satisfaction.
2 Social behaviour
How do you prefer to deal with colleagues and other people – and be dealt with in return? Honesty, courtesy and kindness may be virtues, but a sense of integrity also requires our rational discrimination: contrary to altruistic beliefs, not everyone is equally worthy of our care, attention, time and energy. Be selective – judgemental even – but only on the condition that you’re as demanding of yourself as you are of others. Deceit and offensive attitudes don’t command respect.
3 Personal values
The ethics we apply in productive work, and the choices we make about right and wrong behaviours derive from our own value systems: self-esteem and pride are grounded in strong, consistent standards of personal integrity. It pays to reflect on (or devise) your own set of guiding principles. Philosophy can help in this respect – but remember that acting in confident self-interest is the starting point for showing sincere and due regard for the rights of others, at home or at work.