Advertising and Confidentiality Flashcards
What are the basic rules for Advertising and Other Forms of Solicitation?
Rules:
- Important: You are responsible for your own promotional efforts AND third parties that relates to you, you need to police them as well.
- Basic Rules: Tell the truth, don’t mislead. Don’t guarantee or ability to influence a regulatory agency. It would be deceptive that services will be performed for a stated fee when it is likely that it will be substantially increased.
Important: Confidential Information Rules include:
Confidential information: Proprietary information about employer or any organization that you work with.
Discreditable act- don’t disclose anything.
Members should take reasonable care to make sure clients information will not be disclosed.
Confidentiality information survives employment relationship.
What are the confidential information exceptions:
1) Initiate an ethics complaint with the AICPA, a state board of accountants
2) Protect your own professional interests in legal proceedings
3) Comply with professional standards and other ethic requirements
4) Report potential concerns to the employer’s confidential complaint hotline or those charged with governance
5) Disclosure is permitted on behalf of the employer to: obtain financing with lenders, communicate with vendors, clients, and customers, and communicate with the employer’s external accountant, attorneys, regulators, and other business professionals
Confidentiality additional concepts on clients who are competitors
Be sensitive to confidentiality when providing services to clients who are also competitors. They will be suspicious of your motives.
Confidentiality additional concepts on clients who are new client that would likely lead to disclosure of a existing client or old client
When accepting a new client that would lead to the disclosure of confidential information from a existing or previous client, don’t take a new client WITHOUT obtaining informed consent from the existing or previous client.
Example: Advisory client wants information on competitors, industry, etc. and another client comes on wanting the same information.
When you fire a client for disagreements on a position, and a new accountant of that firm approaches you for information, how do you handle this situation?
You’re NOT allowed to disclose without permission. Ask the accountant to contact the client to see if they will allow you to disclose the information.
When you have a client going through a divorce and the two spouses are giving you conflicting directions, how do you approach this situation?
Contact a lawyer to get their advice on how to proceed forward.
When you outsource to a TSP, before disclosing confidential information, you should:
1) Enter into a contract with the TSP to maintain confidentiality and provide reasonable assurance that the TSP has procedures in place
2) Obtain specific consent from the client for the disclosure.
Members involved in a peer review must keep the confidential information and not use it to their own advantage?
TRUE
Can you disclose client’s names?
YES as a general rule.
EXCEPT: Unless it discloses confidential information (bankruptcy clients)
