Professional ethics basically means certain responsibilities held by trained people in

particular fields to help the societies in need. Some people might be blame for faults if they
fail to complete tasks qualified in their area of professionalism, this is because professionals
are able to complete tasks in which general public might not have the knowledge to do. Of
course, there’s no right to blame people who are not trained in the particular field when
there’s a need for his/her help because they didn't receive the proper training for it. For
example, a doctor shall be blame if he/she fails to diagnose the correct treatment for the
patient but it's the patient’s own fault if he/she accepts treatment or medicine from a non-
qualified medical doctor. You cannot be held accountable for failing to do something that you
do not have the ability to do.

As quoted by Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College, ethics refers to

responsibilities and consequences of one’s action or profession on the society. Every staff of
this university must understand his or her responsibility towards his or her role and conduct
as a staff and the staff’s conduct is bound by the university’s constitution and regulations. So
basically, the professional ethics are formed to make the constitutions and regulations of the
university complete, they are to set guidelines for responsibility, role, and conduct of academic and
administrative staff and also provide an accepted standard in terms of conduct and responsibility of
academic and administrative staff. Therefore, the professional ethics should be embraced so that the
university could reach excellence.

The concept of professional ethics doesn’t mean that it should only apply to
professionals, it can also be applied to every aspect of working life including business, sales,
marketing, and even cleaning. It means that people in the working place should have the
standard of ethics by showing respect, honesty and promoting trust. Promoting ethics in the
workplace gives employees a sense of worth and trust that can help the business and
employees succeed. (Joseph, Joshua, 2000)
Business or professional ethics are standards or codes of conduct set by people in a
specific profession. A code of ethics is a part of the expectations of those involved in many
different types of professions. People in a profession don't want to conduct bad, dishonest or
responsible behaviour if it does occur by someone in their field. By setting out expected
behaviours in the form of professional ethics, professionals work together to try to uphold a
good reputation. Professional ethics are commonly known as ethical business practices.
(Google ads).
 These are statements quoted by Peter McLarty and Vincent McBurney in things we
should do and things we should not do in the work place to maintain the professional ethics in
ourselves. The things we should do is to return to your customer in all business decisions and
to do return quality with a timely fashion. Besides that, we should also be honest in our work
by telling the client, customer, or boss that the task or project you are working on will not
meet the target date if u couldn't complete in on time. To improve, we should not feel shy
nor ashamed to ask for help in order to meet the project task of dateline. They also provide
statements such as when we accept an assignment, do use words such as we, us and ours
because a professional never work cross-purpose with the employer. If the employer wants
respect from any other employees, he/she should also treat them as professionals too, so that
they would pay the same respect towards you. They also emphasized that we should do
things for the good of yourself, the customer and the profession. You are not a true
professional if you don't deliver outcomes that satisfy all three of these areas. The last but
not least provided, is to respect others. This means truly thinking of their beliefs and desires,
and the contribution they make to the organization, however small it might be.
The few things provided by Peter McLarty and Vincent McBurney in things we
should not do as a professional are do not tell the client, customer, or boss that you can do
something when you cannot. When we accept an assignment, we should not use words like
me, mine, you and yours. Another ethics is that we should not steal nor cheat to our
employer and finally is not to underestimate our own capabilities in completing our tasks.
These are the information provided by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. It is
actually By-Laws issued by the council of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants that will
come into effect on 1st January 2011 unless otherwise stated herein. The revised By-Laws is
binding on all members of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. The ethics shown is about
principles, values and beliefs which influence judgement and behaviour. It goes beyond
obeying laws, rules and regulations and it is about doing the right thing in the circumstances.
They agree strongly that the existence of trust is essential to business and society. A
professional accountant’s responsibility is not to satisfy the needs of an individual client or
employer, but to be responsible towards the society and act on public interest. While acting
in public interest, a professional accountant should observe and comply with the ethical
requirement of the By-Laws that have been framed with the objective that members exhibit
the highest standards of professionalism and professional conduct that are expected of the
profession.
 How does one define professional ethics? What is professional ethics? Here we’re going to
discuss about the ethics in business. In business, professional ethics could means the practices in the
healthcare businesses, financing and banking businesses, insurance businesses, legal
professions and many other that has direct impact on the daily life of people, it is important to
first define it in a general perspective that could be best apply to a wide variety of industries
and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, bankers, insurance agents, financial planners and
real estate agents. Basically, business ethics defines how individuals, business professionals, and
corporations choose to interact with one another.

A professional can be viewed as a member of an occupational group which normally

makes a commitment to serve the public and is expected to deliver important services.
Though they are classified as professionals, there are still ethics that must be followed such as
: see other members, including teammates and those employed elsewhere as friends, peers or
colleagues.

Here are the definition of professional ethics by various popular sources.

Wikipedia:
Professional ethics concerns the moral issues that arise because of the specialist knowledge
that professionals attain, and how the use of this knowledge should be governed when
providing a service to the public.

The Free Dictionary:

The rules governing the conduct, transactions, and relationships within a profession and
among its publics.

Dictionary of Accounting Term:

Moral principles and standards of conduct guiding CPAs in performing their functions.

Davis, Michael. “Thinking Like an Engineer” pp.153-4:

A code of ethics…prescribes how professionals are to pursue their common ideal so that each
may do the best she can at a minimal cost to herself and those she cares about (including the
public…). The code is to protect each professional from certain pressures (for example, the
pressure to cut corners to save money) by making it reasonably likely (and more likely then
otherwise) that most other members of the profession will not take advantage of her good
conduct…A code is a solution to a coordination problem.
Ethics Vocabulary:
Codes of conduct established by professionals to govern ethical behaviour within that
profession.

Law Encyclopedia:
The branch of philosophy that defines what is good for the individual and for society and
establishes the nature of obligations, or duties, that people owe themselves and one another.

Business Dictionary:
Moral principles concerning acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by business people.