Professional Ethics & Standards Flashcards

A CAP analyst is asked to sign a report authored entirely by an unlicensed intern that the analyst has not reviewed. Signing without review would violate the principle of:

Answer: Taking professional responsibility only for work one has performed or adequately supervised and reviewed

Professionals may only take responsibility for work they performed, supervised, or thoroughly reviewed, since a signature attests to its quality.

A model built by a CAP analyst starts producing degraded predictions due to data drift, but the client keeps using it for major decisions. The analyst who becomes aware of this should:

Answer: Notify the client of the degradation and recommend monitoring, retraining, or retirement of the model

Awareness that a deployed model is no longer fit for purpose creates a duty to warn the client so decisions are not based on unreliable outputs.

While cleaning data, a CAP analyst discovers records suggesting the client company is committing financial fraud. The analyst's most appropriate initial action is to:

Answer: Raise the finding through appropriate internal or legal channels consistent with law and professional obligations

Evidence of illegality should be escalated through proper internal, legal, or regulatory channels rather than concealed, exploited, or broadcast recklessly.

A CAP analyst reuses survey data collected for a stated academic purpose to build a commercial marketing model. The primary ethical problem is:

Answer: Using data beyond the purpose for which participants gave consent

Repurposing data beyond the scope of participants' original consent violates the ethical principle of purpose limitation.

Two CAP analysts disagree on methodology: one favors a transparent regression the client can understand; the other favors a slightly more accurate black-box model. For a regulated credit decision, ethical guidance most strongly supports:

Answer: Weighing interpretability and the client's ability to explain decisions, which is critical in regulated, high-stakes contexts

In regulated high-stakes settings, the ability to explain and justify decisions can ethically outweigh marginal accuracy gains.

A CAP credential holder learns that another certificant is publicly claiming CAP certification that has actually lapsed. Consistent with professional standards, the appropriate action is to:

Answer: Report the misrepresentation to the certifying body through its established process

Certificants are expected to report credential misrepresentation to the certifying body, which has the authority to investigate and act.

A CAP analyst uses a generative AI tool to draft parts of a client deliverable. Which practice best satisfies ethical standards around this use?

Answer: Verifying the content's accuracy, ensuring no confidential client data was exposed to the tool, and following disclosure policies

Ethical use of AI tools requires verifying outputs, protecting confidential data from unauthorized exposure, and honest disclosure per applicable policy.