Reference no: EM132212904

Assignment 3: Professional Obligations

Task: Firstly, you are required to devise a series of interview questions to investigate how ethics and professional behaviour affect individuals in their real work life. These interviews can be conducted face to face, by telephone, or (as a last choice) by email. You may want to elaborate or ask other questions once you have heard the answers to the questions you pose.

Then conduct an interview with an individual working in the accounting profession. Suggested questions (to get you started) include: how aware are they of their professional body's codes and of their organisation's policies and procedures - if they have them. What influence do these codes have on their own behaviour and that of their peers and supervisors? What are the possible consequences if they breach either their professional body's code or the organisation's code/s?

Research an Australian professional accounting body to understand what issues arise for the professional body and how it polices its code. How does the body communicate the need to be ethical to its members? Are there legal ramifications if the code is breached? Do members have to complete continual professional education? In what areas?

Then reflect on what this means for you in your career and what actions you should take to ensure that you are always acting professionally and ethically. You should also reflect on the similarities and differences between the professional body and the individual working in a profession. Do they both give adherence to the codes the same priority? What, if any, barriers are there to adhering to the code/s?

Rationale

This assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s:

• be able to communicate effectively in the workplace.

• be able to explain obligations to employers.

• be able to demonstrate an understanding of the obligations of a professional accountant.

• be able to apply the knowledge gained through university study to work environments.

The aim of this assessment is to:

• To get a real world understanding of how codes of ethics/ conduct /behaviour impact individuals in their career;

• To understand the difference between the professional bodies' code and expectation they have of their members and the members' expectations and actions;

• To understand codes of ethics/conduct/behaviour in an organisation and the impact it has on employees; and

• To reflect on this in your career.

Presentation

Your report should consist of:

• Title page;

• Table of contents;

• Executive Summary;

• Introduction: You may protect the identity of your interviewee. Just explain what type of role they have e.g. financial accountant, business advisory, their level e.g. manager, trainee and the type of business in which they are employed e.g. government, education, small private firm;

• Body of the report answering the questions you have devised broken up into the two areas;

• Your reflections on the similarities and differences in expectations;

• Your reflections on what this means for you;

• Conclusion;

• References; and

• Appendix (listing the questions prepared for the interview).