This PPT describes the meaning of conflict of interest in professions. Types of conflict of interests, Gifts, bribes, Kickbacks, interest in other companies, moonlighting, good and bad of moonlighting, insider information, moral status of conflict of interest.

1. Conflict of Interests
Atiq ur Rehman

2. Summary
 Conflict of Interest
 Conflict of Interest and Conflicting Interests
 Types of Conflict of Interests
 Gifts, Bribes, Kickbacks
 Interest in Other Companies
 Insider Information
 Moral Status of Conflict of Interest

3. Conflict of
Interest
Professional conflicts of interest are situations
where professionals have an interest that, if
pursued, might keep them from meeting their
obligations to their employers or clients. Such as;
It may be interest in serving in some other
professional role, say, as a consultant for a
competitor’s company.
It may be more personal interest, such as making
substantial private investments in a competitor’s
company.

4. Conflict of
Interest and
Conflicting
Interests
 Conflict of interest” and “conflicting interests”
are not synonyms
 Conflicting interests means a person has two or
more desires that cannot all be satisfied given
the circumstances.
 In professional conflicts of interest it is often
physically or economically possible to pursue
all of the conflicting interests but doing so
would be morally problematic.

5. Conflict of
Interest:Types
Because of the great variety of possible outside
interests, conflicts of interest can arise in
innumerable ways, some of them are;
1) Gifts, bribes, and kickbacks
2) Interests in other companies
3) Insider information

6. Gifts, Bribes
and Kickbacks
A bribe is a substantial amount of money or goods offered
beyond a stated business contract with the aim of winning an
advantage in gaining or keeping the contract, and where the
advantage is illegal or
otherwise unethical.
Gifts are not bribes as long as they are small gratuities offered
in the normal conduct of business. A rule of thumb can be;
“If the offer or acceptance of a particular gift could have
embarrassing consequences for your company if made public,
then do not accept the gift.”
Kickbacks are prearranged payments made by contractors to
companies or their representatives in exchange for contracts
actually granted.

7. Interest in Other
Companies
Some conflicts of interest consist in having an interest in a
competitor’s or a subcontractor’s business. For example,
 Working for the competitor or subcontractor as an employee or
consultant.
 Partial ownership or substantial stockholdings in the
competitor’s business.
 Holding a few shares of stock in a company one has
occasional dealings.
 If one’s spouse works for a subcontractor to one’s company,
Usually not, but a conflict of interest arises if one’s job
involves granting contracts to that subcontractor.

8. Interest in Other
Companies:
Moonlighting
Moonlighting is working in one’s spare time for
another company.
Moonlighting usually creates conflicts of interest
only in special circumstances, such as working
for competitors, suppliers, or customers.
A special kind of conflict of interest arises,
however, when moonlighting
leaves one exhausted and thereby harms job
performance.

9. Insider
Information
 An especially sensitive conflict of interest
consists in using “inside” information to gain
an advantage or set up a business opportunity
for oneself, one’s family, or one’s friends.
 The information might concern one’s own
company or another company with which one
does business.

10. Conflict of
Interest: Moral
Status
By definition conflicts of interest should be avoided because they threaten
to prevent one from fully meeting those obligations.
Why should mere threats of possible harm always be condemned?
In fact, it is not always unethical to pursue conflicts of interest. In practice,
some conflicts are thought to be unavoidable, or even acceptable. For
example,
One illustration of this is that the government allows employees of aircraft
manufacturers, such as Boeing or McDonnell Douglas, to serve as
government inspectors for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA).
Even when conflicts of interest are unavoidable or reasonable, employees
are still obligated to inform their employers and obtain approval.