52 Examples of Professional Ethics

John Spacey, May 02, 2022

Professional ethics are principles of professional behavior that are adopted by an individual in their work. To be considered ethics, these must go beyond what is required by laws, regulations and reasonable expectations. Professional ethics are specific to a profession and are relevant and useful in resolving ethical issues that are likely to come up. The following are illustrative examples of professional ethics.

Accountability	Attention to Detail
Avoiding / Reducing Waste	Backbone / Grit
Be Fair	Be Reasonable / Pragmatic
Build Trust & Credibility	Commitment to Serve Customers / Clients / Stakeholders / Public
Compassion / Empathy	Compliance to the Law
Confidentiality / Privacy	Confront & Challenge Injustice
Conservation of Resources	Defend Client's Interests
Demonstrate Competence	Do No Harm
Do the Right Thing	Doing Good
Due Diligence	Environmental Stewardship
Fiduciary Duty	Flexibility / Adaptability
Frugality	Health & Safety
High Standards	Honesty / Candor
Human Rights & Freedoms	Impartiality
Informed Consent	Integrity & Moral Conduct
Learn From Failure	Loyalty
Manage Risk	Objectivity
Openness	Politeness & Civility
Protect Public / Stakeholders / Customers	Recordkeeping & Audit Trail
Reliability	Report Conflicts of Interest
Report Wrongdoing / Incompetence / Unprofessional Behavior	Respect For Individuals
Responsibility for Social / Environmental Impact	Responsible Sourcing
Social Responsibility	Stakeholder Advocacy
Stewardship of Company / Public Resources	Take Ownership
Tolerance & Inclusion	Transparency
Work Ethic	Work to Defeat Biases

Business Ethics vs Professional Ethics

Business ethics relate to the principles of an organization or team. Professional ethics relate to the principles of individuals, their profession and associated professional standards and codes of conduct. For example, an accountant and a information security expert working for the same business may require different sets of professional ethics that can be applied to the expectations and challenges of their respective roles.

Notes

The ethics above are overly broad and are intended to be tailored to each profession. For example, "health & safety" for a construction manager may translate to "The health and safety of workers and the public is prioritized over schedule and budget."

Ethics are intended to be specific enough to guide decision making whereby vague ethics such as "integrity" are avoided.

Overview: Professional Ethics
Type	Professionalism
Definition	Principles of professional behavior that are adopted by an individual in their profession.
Related Concepts	Professionalism » Business Ethics »