You work as a paraplanner for a financial planning firm based in Melbourne while pursuing your studies at Deakin University. Some of the firm's values are loyalty, ingenuity, confidentiality, and accountability. The firm's standards are high. To advance in your career as a financial advisor, you must work hard and effectively and demonstrate cultural fit as you navigate through your probation. You soon realise that the firm has an informal work culture, where new operational staff are socially inducted by mentors. Your social mentor is Benjamin, a colleague who has proved to be socially and financially helpful to you.
Benjamin has hinted that the company will soon confirm a few staff members after probation. You know that Benjamin is a director of the firm. In addition to being a golfer, he is also a renowned financial planner. After you share your background information during your first probation review meeting, Benjamin knows you are the primary income earner for your young family. In a private conversation, Benjamin told you of a pending2 investigation into some personal luxury vehicles he bought using a client's funds. These luxury vehicles are under his wife's name.

Like many other industries, the financial planning industry in Australia is undergoing significant changes. Most of these changes were because of the findings of The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry established in Australia at the end of 2017.

As an aspiring financial planner, you work to take care of administrative and sometimes client-facing tasks while accompanying Benjamin. You have spent time working and getting to know the employees in each of these roles. At first, you sensed that the staff perceived you as an outsider who posed some threat to internal operations. Nevertheless, with the help of Benjamin, the team soon realised that your work was aimed at helping them, and over time, you succeeded in creating relationships of trust and mutual respect with many of the employees.

However, Benjamin has asked you to assist him by taking over some of his clients as he will retire soon. You are currently working on the Soros family file. From the file, you note that Benjamin has worked with Soros, a married couple, for many years and has become personal friends. During the last meeting with the couple, in which you were in attendance, you learnt that the couple will be separating after more than 20 years of marriage. After the meeting, Kate, Soros's wife, came to see you and Benjamin separately. She asked if you could continue being her financial advisor as she had benefited from Benjamin's financial advice over the years. She also mentioned that if you agreed, she would request that the pending investigation facing Benjamin be dropped.
 

When Kate left, Benjamin took you out for lunch and said how excited he was about you taking over Kate's file and continuing the great work he has been doing. After returning to work that afternoon, you put two and two together and realised that the pending investigation Benjamin had mentioned involved Soros funds. On perusing through the files, you come across a letter from Soros asking if Benjamin could continue looking after his affairs once the separation is finalised.

The next day, Benjamin mentioned that he would also like to keep Soros as a client, as they play golf together regularly. Benjamin asked you to think of the best way to handle the Soros family after separation. Benjamin has given you up to next week to devise the best solution to maximise returns from Soros's wealth managed by the firm. You are also aware that your probation is ending in two weeks, and you are looking forward to a new position as a financial advisor.

You are now concerned about what to do next.

Required:

Identify and explain the ethical dilemmas present in the case study.

Select one of the ethical dilemmas you have identified. What should you do to address this ethical dilemma in this case? In your written report, work through the steps of the AAA Model of ethical decision-making to reach and justify a responsible and ethical judgement concerning the ethical dilemma you are facing as a moral agent.

In your opinion, are professional code monitoring bodies necessary? Support your answer with reverent examples

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Ethical Dilemmas 1 Conflict of Interest and Misuse of Client Funds Benjamin is facing a pending investigation for using a clients funds to purchase pe... View the full answer