I haven’t read ethics in awhile, but I know one of them is Duty to employer. So say a person was given th opportunity to do freelance work after his/her real job, say analyzing the financials of a practice to get to a breakeven and look for shady items in the past. Is this a violation of the Standards?
i believe they need to receive written permission from their employer if they are to get compensated for it. otherwise it a vio.
Even if it is compensated and will not interferre with their duties at the original employer they need approval? Or is it just notification to the employer? Thanks,
Ethics says - Disclose it to employer, even if it does not compromise your duties to employer. I don’t think it requires a written approval, but it needs to be disclosed. Leave it upto the emplyer to decide if it compromises the attention of employee or harms the employer in any way.
hmmm…this reminds me of the Ethics Beast question i posted a while ago… tell me if this helps… Joan Platt, CFA, operates an investment firm in New York, but maintains an office in Xania. Platt’s firm invests on its clients’ behalf in both domestic and international stocks and bonds. Platt’s employees include two analysts, Paula Linstrom, CFA, and Hershel Wadel, a member of the CFA Institute. Both analysts report to Platt directly. Thorvald Knudsen, CFA, manages the international bond portfolio. Knudsen’s uncle, Gustaf Jensen, owns a construction firm that has extra cash. When Jensen saw Knudsen at a family event last November, he asked Knudsen to give him advice about purchasing domestic bonds for the construction firm. In exchange for the advice, the construction firm would pay Knudsen $5,000 per year. At the same event, Knudsen’s aunt, Hanna Jorgensen, approached Knudsen and asked if he would manage Jorgensen’s apartment building for a fee of 10 percent of the gross rents. Knudsen agreed to both Jensen’s and Jorgensen’s proposals. Knudsen informed Platt of Jensen’s request, but not about the Jorgensen arrangement. Knudsen violated: A) Standard IV(B): Additional Compensation with relation to the Jorgensen deal. B) no Standards with regards to both the Jensen and Jorgensen deals. C) Standard IV(B): Additional Compensation with relation to the Jensen deal, but did not violate the Standard with relation to the Jorgensen deal. The correct answer was C) Standard IV(B): Additional Compensation with relation to the Jensen deal, but did not violate the Standard with relation to the Jorgensen deal. Notifying Platt about the Jensen deal is not enough. He needs permission in writing from both parties before accepting the work. Thus, Knudsen violated Standard IV(B) with relation to the Jensen matter. However, it does not appear that the work performed for Jorgensen is in competition with Platt’s employer, so this aspect is not in violation of Standard IV(B). (Study Session 1, LOS 2.a)
so in response to your original post, it appears that the nature of the freelance work you are referring to is of significance
In either case, I think Disclosure is important, even if it does not compromise your duty. If it is in competition to the employer, you will require a written approval though.
My goodness, I am living a CFA Ethics example, who’da thunk? Thanks for your responses, I will craft an email right now.