Business and Technology · Fundamental principles of ethical behaviour

Threats to Compliance with Fundamental Principles in ACCA

Updated 11 October 2026 · Fact-checked

Threats are situations that may stop you following the fundamental principles of ethics. The ACCA Code names five: self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity and intimidation. To answer a question, find what is pressuring the accountant, match that pressure to one category, then name the principle at risk.

Understand Threats to Compliance with Fundamental Principles

The fundamental principles are integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour. A threat is anything that might stop an accountant from following one or more of them. A threat is not a breach. It is a risk that a breach could happen.

The Code groups threats into five categories. Each has a simple trigger.

Self-interest: your own financial or other personal interest could influence your judgement. Example: you own shares in a client, or you fear losing a fee.
Self-review: you must judge your own earlier work, or the work of a colleague in your firm. Example: you prepare the accounts and then audit them.
Advocacy: you promote a client's or employer's position so strongly that your objectivity is lost. Example: you argue a client's case in a dispute and also give independent advice on it.
Familiarity: a close or long relationship makes you too sympathetic to, or too trusting of, another person. Example: an auditor accepts a long-standing client's explanations without checking.
Intimidation: you are deterred from acting properly by real or perceived pressure. Example: a director threatens to dismiss you unless you change a figure.

The trick is to ask one question: where does the pressure come from? From your own gain, it is self-interest. From your own past work, it is self-review. From taking a side, it is advocacy. From closeness, it is familiarity. From fear or threats, it is intimidation.

Threats can be reduced by safeguards, or removed by declining or ending the work. This page covers spotting the threat. Safeguards are covered in a related topic.

Key formulas to remember

Five categories of threat: Self-interest | Self-review | Advocacy | Familiarity | Intimidation; Learn all five names. Questions often ask you to pick the one that fits a scenario.
Trigger for each threat: Own gain = self-interest; own past work = self-review; taking a side = advocacy; close relationship = familiarity; pressure or fear = intimidation; Use this as a one-line test for any scenario.
Fundamental principles: Integrity, Objectivity, Professional competence and due care, Confidentiality, Professional behaviour; Threats are matched to the principle they put at risk. Objectivity is most often affected.

How to solve Threats to Compliance with Fundamental Principles questions

Use this method for any scenario question on threats.

1Read the scenario and identify who the accountant is and who else is involved.
2Find the pressure or relationship. Ask: is it personal gain, own past work, taking a side, closeness or fear?
3Match it to one of the five categories using the trigger test.
4Check for a second threat. Some scenarios fit two, but the question usually wants the main one.
5Name the fundamental principle at risk, usually objectivity or integrity.
6If asked, add a safeguard or say whether the accountant should decline the work.

Quickest way: One-word trigger test

When to use it: Use it for multiple choice questions where you have about two minutes or less.

Underline the key phrase in the scenario: shares, fee, reviewed own work, defend, friend, long relationship, threatened.
Link the phrase: shares or fee to self-interest; own work to self-review; defend or promote to advocacy; friend or long relationship to familiarity; threatened or pressure to intimidation.
Pick the matching option and eliminate the rest.
For multiple response, check each option separately against the trigger.

Common mistakes in Threats to Compliance with Fundamental Principles

Confusing familiarity with self-review.
Both involve people you know, so they seem alike.
Fix: Self-review is about judging work you or your firm did. Familiarity is about a relationship making you too trusting. No past work by you means it is not self-review.
Calling every pressure from a director intimidation.
Students link any boss pressure to fear.
Fix: Intimidation needs a real or perceived threat, such as dismissal. A bonus offered for a result is self-interest.
Treating a threat as a breach of ethics.
The word sounds like wrongdoing.
Fix: A threat is a risk. A breach happens only if the principle is actually broken.
Labelling a fee-dependence problem as familiarity.
The client relationship feels close.
Fix: If the worry is losing income, it is self-interest. Familiarity is about closeness and trust.
Mixing up advocacy and self-interest.
Both can involve helping a client.
Fix: Advocacy means actively promoting a position. Self-interest means your own benefit.

Worked examples

Example 1

An audit firm prepared the financial statements of Delta Ltd. The same firm is now asked to audit those statements. Which category of threat arises, and which principle is most at risk?

Show the solution

The pressure comes from the firm judging its own earlier work.
That matches the trigger for self-review.
A firm may be reluctant to find errors in its own work, so objectivity is at risk.

Answer: Self-review threat, putting objectivity at risk.

Example 2

Priya is an accountant at Zeta Co. The finance director tells her she will lose her job unless she removes a note on a lawsuit from the draft accounts. Identify the threat and the principle at risk.

Show the solution

The pressure is a threat of dismissal from a senior person.
This is fear of consequences, which fits intimidation.
She is being pushed to leave out information that is needed, so integrity is at risk. Objectivity is also affected.

Answer: Intimidation threat, putting integrity (and objectivity) at risk.

Exam tips

Learn the five names and a one-word trigger for each. Most marks come from correct matching.
Read the last sentence of the scenario first. It often states the relationship or pressure that decides the category.
In multiple response questions, test each option on its own. Do not assume the options form a pattern.
If two threats seem possible, choose the one directly described, not one you could infer.
Always link the threat to a principle if the question asks for it. Objectivity is the usual answer.

Practice questions from Fundamental principles of ethical behaviour

Threats to Compliance with Fundamental Principles: frequently asked questions

What are the five threats in the ACCA Code of Ethics?

They are self-interest, self-review, advocacy, familiarity and intimidation. Each is a way that the fundamental principles could be put at risk.

What is the difference between familiarity and self-review threats?

Familiarity comes from a close or long relationship that makes you too trusting. Self-review comes from having to evaluate your own or your firm's earlier work.

Is a threat the same as an ethical breach?

No. A threat is a risk that a principle might be broken. A breach occurs only if the principle is actually not followed.

How are threats tested in the BT exam?

They appear in objective test questions. You usually read a short scenario and pick the category of threat, or select the principle at risk.