PrepL Professional Ethics and Conduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A licensed professional discovers a colleague has falsified inspection records. What is the ethical obligation?
- Ignore it to avoid workplace conflict
- Report the misconduct to the appropriate licensing board (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague privately and take no further action
- Alter your own records to match
Correct answer: Report the misconduct to the appropriate licensing board
Licensed professionals have an ethical and often legal duty to report falsification of records to the licensing board.
Question 2: Which principle requires a professional to act in the best interest of the client rather than their own financial gain?
- Competence
- Confidentiality
- Fiduciary duty (Correct answer)
- Non-maleficence
Correct answer: Fiduciary duty
Fiduciary duty obligates professionals to prioritize the client's interests above their own personal or financial gain.
Question 3: A licensee accepts a gift from a vendor in exchange for recommending their products to clients. This is best described as:
- Standard business practice
- A conflict of interest and potential ethics violation (Correct answer)
- Acceptable if the gift is under $50
- Permitted as long as the client is not harmed
Correct answer: A conflict of interest and potential ethics violation
Accepting gifts in exchange for referrals creates a conflict of interest that violates most professional ethics codes.
Question 4: What does the ethical principle of 'non-maleficence' require of a licensed professional?
- Maximize client profits
- Avoid causing harm to clients or the public (Correct answer)
- Maintain strict confidentiality at all times
- Disclose all personal relationships
Correct answer: Avoid causing harm to clients or the public
Non-maleficence means 'do no harm' and requires professionals to avoid actions that injure clients or the public.
Question 5: A contractor learns mid-project that their initial cost estimate was significantly too low. The ethical course of action is to:
- Complete the project and absorb the loss without telling the client
- Immediately disclose the discrepancy and discuss options with the client (Correct answer)
- Stop work and abandon the project
- Inflate charges elsewhere to recover the loss
Correct answer: Immediately disclose the discrepancy and discuss options with the client
Transparency requires professionals to promptly disclose significant errors and work with clients to resolve them.
Question 6: When a professional's personal religious beliefs conflict with a client's legal request, the professional should:
- Refuse service and provide no further guidance
- Complete the request while imposing personal views on the client
- Either fulfill the legal obligation or refer the client to another qualified professional (Correct answer)
- Consult the client's family before proceeding
Correct answer: Either fulfill the legal obligation or refer the client to another qualified professional
Professionals must fulfill lawful requests or ensure the client receives services elsewhere; personal beliefs cannot deny clients legal service.
Question 7: A licensee is asked to sign off on work performed by an unlicensed subcontractor. This action would most likely:
- Be acceptable if the work meets quality standards
- Violate licensing laws and constitute fraud (Correct answer)
- Be permitted with written client consent
- Be allowed if the subcontractor is registered with the state
Correct answer: Violate licensing laws and constitute fraud
Signing off on unlicensed work misrepresents the source of the work and violates licensing statutes.
PrepL Professional Ethics and Conduct 2
A licensed professional discovers a colleague has falsified inspection records.
What is the ethical obligation?