Procedures for compliance

Prevent unintentional misrepresentations of the qualifications of services by understanding the limit of the individual's or firm's capabilities and the need to be accurate and complete in presentations.

Firms can provide guidance for employees who make presentations by providing a list of the firm's services and a description of the qualification that are accurate and suitable for client presentations.

Firms can prevent misrepresentation by designating which employees speak on behalf of the firm.

Prepare a resume of your qualifications and a list of services you are capable of performing to use in presentations.

You should use written resumes and job descriptions of firm services when making presentations to clients to help each member focus on strengths and limitations.

Firms can aid compliance by periodically reviewing employee correspondence and documents that contain representations of qualifications.

To avoid plagiarism, take the following steps:

• Keep copies of all information used to generate a report.
• Attribute quotations other than recognized financial and statistical reporting services.
• Attribute summaries to the relevant author.

A member or candidate is in violation if he or she:

• Uses excerpts from reports done by others without acknowledgement.
• Cites quotes attributable to "leading analysts" and "investment experts" without specific reference.
• Uses charts and graphs without stating sources.
• Copies computer spreadsheets without obtaining the permission of the owner(s).
• Presents a firm's own research in an expert witness situation without attributing the research to its specific source.
• Presents a firm's own research to clients, prospects and the general public: NOT a violation as the member does not need to attribute the source specifically in this case.