Standard VII(A) – Responsibiliti ...
Standard VII – Responsibilities as a CFA Institute Member or CFA Candidate Standard... Read More
A profession can be defined as the occupational group that is based on the unique education, specialist knowledge, and framework of practice and behavior that establishes community trust, respect, and recognition. A large proportion of professions outlines the importance of ethics, excellent service, and empathy when dealing with clients.
Diverse professions have developed over the years due to:
A credible profession is characterized by a strong trust from both the clients and the society at large. Profession builds through the following ways:
The provision of community services creates confidence and professional pride and professional acceptance. Consequently, a trustworthy professional is substantially flexible and is independent of the government regulatory bodies when carrying its operations.
The trust of a profession is built if it puts its integrity and the interest of clients above their interests. A client-focused profession is one that its actions portray a high level of care, skill, and diligence while making the interests of the clients’ priority. In summary, a profession gains trust if it shows fiduciary duty a commitment to high-quality care when acting for the benefit of another party.
A profession is trusted if it is grounded on codes and standards recognized by regulators and the government, under which the profession is established. The regulatory bodies should understand the profession’s codes and standards and their enforcement.
A profession should develop an elaborate entry requirement into a profession since membership in a profession is a sign to the consumers that the professional will deliver high-quality service. Such requirements include expertise, knowledge, technical skills, and ethics.
Experienced and skilled practitioners should make available useful knowledge to their members to work resourcefully and ethically, based on best practice.
Having qualified into a profession, there is a need for ongoing education to its members to accommodate the ever-changing knowledge and technical skills, technology, standards of ethical behavior, legal and business environment where professional services are needed. Most of the professional regulatory bodies make it mandatory for the members to undergo continuing professional development -undergoing specified new learning each year.
Each professional found liable for professional misconduct should be held accountable. This is necessary to maintain the integrity and the reputation of the profession and hence trust.
Despite that members of a profession do compete, they should respect each other rights, autonomy, and dignity.
Although it is the responsibility of each professional to maintain a high level of professional standards and competency, an oversight body is established to make this happen. Moreover, the oversight body is mandated to provide continuous educational resources and information on professional changes as time goes by.
Professional members may help to protect the future of professional values by acting as educators to peers. They achieve this by volunteering to mentor and inspire other young professionals or even those who wish to join a certain profession to develop expertise and ethics. In the long term, the future trust of a profession is protected.