[Vnbiz] Professional Ethics Education

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear CACC,

This message is to follow-up on chi Bich Lien's information that the VCP
wants to focus on ethics teaching, and that the code of ethics for lawyers
is being revised and improved.

Many professions around the world have code of ethics (a/k/a code of
professional ethics, or code of professional responsibility, code of
professional conducts) for their members.  Universities around the world
have mandatory ethics courses for professional students (medicine students,
dental students, accounting students, etc...) to learn the code of ethics of
their profession.

In the old days, there was one term "code of ethics."  For the last couple
of decades the new terms pop up, but they all mean the same things. The
point to keep in mind here is that these are for "professional ethics" and
not "personal ethic"-- to keep the professional life separate from personal
life.  (However, if as experience shows a lot of personal issues affect our
professional performance. Say, an alcoholic who drinks at home may still be
drunk at work).

For the Vietnamese economy to catch up with the world, all Vietnamese
professionals must practice professional standards used in advanced
countries.  Professional standards may be divided into two categories:  What
you know and How you apply what you know.   Most of "what you know" is
technical, most of how you apply is ethical.  Professional associations in
Vietnam should come up with professional code of ethics for their members
and work with the government to bring these code of ethics into universities
curricula.

As a sample, I am posting here some excerpt from the Code of Professional
Responsibility of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
The full version is at

http://www.aicpa.org/about/code/index.htm


*AICPA Code of Professional Conduct -- table of content

*Introduction
Section 50 - Principles of Professional Conduct
Section 90 - Rules: Applicability and Definitions
Section 100 - Independence, Integrity, and Objectivity
Section 200 - General Standards Accounting Principles
Section 300 - Responsibilities to Clients
Section 400 - Responsibilities to Colleagues
Section 500 - Other Responsibilities and Practices
ET Appendixes
ET Topical Index


*Introduction*
**
. . .  Compliance with the Code of Professional Conduct, as with all
standards in an open society, depends primarily on members' understanding
and voluntary actions, secondarily on reinforcement by peers and public
opinion, and ultimately on disciplinary proceedings, when necessary, against
members who fail to comply with the Rules.

*Section 50 - Principles of Professional Conduct*

51 - Preamble
Section 52 - Article I: Responsibilities
Section 53 - Article II: The Public Interest
Section 54 - Article III: Integrity
Section 55 - Article IV: Objectivity and Independence
Section 56 - Article V: Due Care
Section 57 - Article VI: Scope and Nature of Services


*ET Section 52 - Article I—Responsibilities*

In carrying out their responsibilities as professionals, members should
exercise sensitive professional and moral judgments in all their activities.


*ET Section 53 - Article II—The Public Interest*

Members should accept the obligation to act in a way that
will serve the public interest, honor the public trust, and
demonstrate commitment to professionalism.

*ET Section 54 - Article III—Integrity*

To maintain and broaden public confidence, members should perform
all professional responsibilities with the highest sense of integrity.

*ET Section 55 - Article IV—Objectivity and Independence*

A member should maintain objectivity and be free of conflicts of
interest in discharging professional responsibilities. A member
in public practice should be independent in fact and appearance
when providing auditing and other attestation services.

*ET Section 56 - Article V—Due Care*

A member should observe the profession's technical and ethical standards,
strive continually to improve competence and the quality of services, and
discharge professional responsibility to the best of the member's ability

*ET Section 57 - Article VI—Scope and Nature of Services*

A member in public practice should observe the Principles
of the Code of Professional Conduct in determining the
scope and nature of services to be provided

Please note in the introduction, compliance with the code depends "primarily
through the members' understanding and voluntary action."   Also note that
throughout the code, one rarely encounters the term "legal" or "lawful,"
because it is assume that members have to be lawful and legal in action; the
code is a higher standard, above the legal standard.  When a member violate
the code of professional conduct, he cannot say, "But what I do is legal."
Being legal is not a defense to an ethical violation (although of course it
does help).  The response to a "being legal" defense may be, "Yes. we know
what you do is legal, but it is unethical. It violates our code of
professional conduct."

For links to many codes of professional ethics and recourse's of
professional ethics, please click on the following link:

http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/research/resources/isworld/ethics/index.htm

Final note, this message is solely for professional ethics, but we must
realize that professional ethics is a part of a person's ethics, meaning
professional ethics is a part of our personal ethics.  We also need to focus
on ethic teachings in family, school, church, temple, the VCP, the mass
organizations, to0 counter the bad examples shown every day by corrupt
"leaders."

The effort of the former Minister of Education and Training (now Deputy
Prime Minister) Nguyen Thien Nhan in stopping exam cheating cold is a great
effort in improving the ethical environment in our education system and in
the country.  That effort should be commended (my previous complaints about
not preparing students properly for the new tests notwithstanding).

Have a great day!

Hoanh


-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC
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