The Investment Advisor Body of Knowledge + Test Bank

CHAPTER 1 IMCA Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards of Practice

Investment advisors and consultants are responsible for following laws and standards enforced by numerous government agencies, industry self-regulatory bodies, and the firms at which they are employed. As a professional certification body, the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) prescribes and enforces its own code of ethics and standards as is described through its Code of Professional Responsibility (“code”) and Standards of Practice (“standards”).

The seven elements listed in IMCA's code serve as the core of IMCA's code of ethics. These seven code elements are designed to outline the key principles of IMCA's code. The code elements are listed in IMCA's standards under standard number one. Subsequent standards provide further explanation of code elements along with additional details of specific requirements and guidelines, further application of code elements, and numerous examples. In other words, the standards describe various code items in greater detail.

The concepts of fiduciary responsibility, disclosure, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, compliance, and competence are all described and explained in the readings found in this chapter.

Part I IMCA Code of Professional Responsibility

Learning Objectives

• List and explain the seven elements of IMCA's Code of Professional Responsibility.
• Apply the seven code elements appropriately when given a set of facts or circumstances. ...