What makes Ethics so difficult? The readings are all fairly straightforward, however the item sets are mindblowingly convoluted. I think candidates (including myself) do so poorly on L2 ethics because of ASSUMPTIONS. Think about it, how many times have you made a mistake because you ‘assumed’ something but was never stated in the item set? Going forward, I know it sounds trivial, but do not assume anything unless it is specifically stated in the item set. Lots of questions indicate the analyst has indeed made a violation but that specific violation may not be one of the answer choices. Thoughts?
i think you are absolutely right. we should only assume that we have to use the standards.
Good advice.
That’s a tough one. I’ll try doing some Q-bank questions and see how I do erasing any assumptions. From my experince I think you have to assume a lot though. -Assume that unless stated the investor or client is not sophisticated. -Even though not explicitly stated Clients first->market integrity -> employer -> CFA charterholder (In order of importance) -Often I think you have to assume that there was an underlying attempt to deceive when there are wrong doings. That’s why misconduct is so prevalent in q’s. -Assume that in most situations that you have to inform clients about all possible risks related to investments (even weird ones like insider trading in foreign countries) -etc… (that I can’t think of right now) My thoughts on it…
My take on ethics. I thought it was pretty straightforward on last years exam. (I got over 70%). I thought what helped me was Schweser book 7. I know what we think about this book in general - stupid hard, questions that go way beyond what is reasonable. But what may be crazy for FSA, may help for ethics. Really hard questions make you think about different ways to approach the question. What makes ethics hard is not the memorizing the code of practice book, but different ways of asking questions and having an answer for them. I did horribly on the book 7 ethics practice questions, but when reviewing the answers, I remember saying to myself, “I didn’t think of it that way, but they are right.” Anyhoo, if you get anything out of book 7, I would use it to practice ethics questions. Now watch me get my lunch handed to me this year. Just my luck.
market integrity > clients you don’t allow your client to benefit from insider information at the expense of the market at large. GMofDen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That’s a tough one. I’ll try doing some Q-bank > questions and see how I do erasing any > assumptions. > From my experince I think you have to assume a lot > though. > > -Assume that unless stated the investor or client > is not sophisticated. > -Even though not explicitly stated Clients > first->market integrity -> employer -> CFA > charterholder (In order of importance) > -Often I think you have to assume that there was > an underlying attempt to deceive when there are > wrong doings. That’s why misconduct is so > prevalent in q’s. > -Assume that in most situations that you have to > inform clients about all possible risks related to > investments (even weird ones like insider trading > in foreign countries) > -etc… (that I can’t think of right now) > > My thoughts on it…
^ agreed in terms of fraud and illegal activities. But my understanding going through the material is our main duty is to the client.
I still don’t think so, and would lean toward market integrity in any scenario.
brother bilo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I still don’t think so, and would lean toward > market integrity in any scenario. definitely because supposedly it’s going to be better for our clients and our profession long term …
Unless otherwise specified, you have to take the integrity of the market above the needs of your client because in the long run it is more beneficial to the clients.
I concede on the phrase market ingrity. Shouldn’t have stated that. I think I meant to say our number one priority is our client.
Often you will notice on an ethics problem that for each set of answer choices 1 of them is: 1. unrelated to the question or clearly wrong 2. Too lax 3. Too stringent 4. in between too lax and too stringent, most likely to be the correct answer. Now of course sometimes the correct answer may be on of the extremes but if you are having trouble choosing between answers I find the method above to be useful.