Code of Conduct & Ethics

1. Code of Ethics

THE PUBLIC INTEREST

1.1 Members must at all times act in, ad protect, the interests of their Client provided that in so doing the member does not conflict with civil, legal, social or political responsibilities.

INTEGRITY

1.2 Members must not breach the general public trust in the profession or the specific trust of their Clients. Strict observance of accepted standards of honesty and integrity must be observed in all of their professional decisions and actions.

OBJECTIVITY AND INDEPENDENCE

1.3 Members must be objective, impartial and free of conflicts of interest on the performance of their professional duties. A member must analyse, access, evaluate and/or report objectively on the basis of the relevant information from all available sources.

COMPETENCE AND DUE CARE

1.4 Members must make a commitment to continually improve their professional competence and to keep their knowledge up-to-date. They must discharge all of their duties to Clients with due care and diligence.
Members must not undertake professional assignments which they are not competent to perform or not able to complete and, if in doubt, must obtain such advice and assistance as will enable the work to be carried out completely and competently.

COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS

1.5 Members must comply with any legal requirements established for the profession and the Standards of Practice and Profession Conduct issued by or other guidance given from time to time by the Institute on matters of a technical or professional nature.

1.6 Members must not hold themselves out to be general investment advisers, legal advisers, tax advisers or securities dealers or authorised to practice any other professional discipline which requires a specific licence unless they are seperately and currently licensed to do so.

CONFIDENTIALITY

1.7 Members must not disclose information acquired in the course of their professional work except where formal consent has been obtained or where there is a legal or professional duty to disclose. Members must not use such information for their personal advantage or that of a third party.

IMAGE OF THE PROFESSION AND THE INSTITUTE

1.8 Members must refrain from any conduct or action in their professional role which may directly or indirectly improperly damage the good name and reputation of the profession, the Institute or any of its Members.

PROFESSIONAL FEES

1.9 Professional fees must reflect fairly and equitably the value of the work or service performed for the Client and no member shall solicit for or otherwise seek to obtain a Client or work away from another member on the basis of providing such service for a lesser fee.

FUNDS HELD IN TRUST AND CLIENTS MONIES

1.10 Members who hold funds in trust must keep accurate records necessary to show that the funds have been correctly administered. Monies received for a stated purpose shall be regarded and used as monies in trust for that purpose and that purpose only, and must be accounted for to the Client.

All Client trust funds must have a sequentially numbered trust account receipt issued and must be deposited to a bank account styled “Trust Account”.

SOLICITATION

1.11 The direct uninvited solicitation of a specific potential Client or other professional engagement from another member is prohibited.

INCOMPATIBLE BUSINESS AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

1.12 Members engaged in the provision of professional business brokerage services must not at the same time engage in any business or occupation which may create a conflict of interest in the discharging of their professional duty or which is detrimental to the public good or the dignity and reputation of professional business brokerage.

1.13 A member providing a range of professional services may not carry out different functions or professional engagements for any one Client which of themselves may give rise to a conflict of interest.

LOANS TO OR FROM CLIENTS

1.14 No member or person in a Practice, directly or indirectly, shall accept or make or guarantee a loan from or to a Client except for a loan negotiated at arms length in the ordinary course of business.

GOODS OR SERVICES FROM CLIENTS

1.15 No member or other person in a Practice, directly or indirectly, shall accept from a Client, goods or services for personal (including family) use on terms more favourable than those commercially available to others except to the extent that such would be considered by ordinary standards of common sense to be unsolicited and of a minor or trivial nature. Hospitality or gifts on a scale other than that commensurate with normal courtesies of social life must not be accepted.

MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES

1.16 When providing management consulting services to a client, a member or a person in the practice must not participate in the executive function of that Client unless and only to the extent authorised in writing by the engagement brief.

STANDARDS OF PRACTICE AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

1.17 The Institute may, from time to time, determine issue and amend Standards of Practice and Professional Conduct, consistent with this code, for the guidance of members and good order and reputation of the business brokerage profession and of the Institute.