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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Audit and Assurance (International) · Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants

Harbour & Co, an audit firm, is auditing Delta Ltd. During a meeting, the audit manager Priya hears that the finance director is considering a fraudulent adjustment. She decides to tell her friend, who works for a competitor of Delta, about Delta's unreleased results. Which fundamental principle of the IESBA Code is primarily breached by this intended disclosure?

Confidentiality is breached. The Code requires professional accountants to keep information obtained through client work private and not to disclose it without authority or a legal or professional right or duty. Telling a competitor's employee about unreleased results is unauthorised disclosure, not a bias or competence issue.

  1. AConfidentialityCorrect
  2. BObjectivity
  3. CProfessional competence and due care
  4. DProfessional behaviour

Explanation

Confidentiality requires accountants to respect the confidentiality of information acquired through professional relationships and not disclose it without proper authority or a legal or professional right or duty. Disclosing unreleased results to a competitor's employee is unauthorised disclosure. Objectivity concerns bias and conflicts of interest, which is not the issue here.

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