Assess practices, policies, and conduct in the light of CFA Institute's Code and Standards

Level II ethics sets place several people in one firm and ask whether each act complies. A reliable routine: identify who acts and whether they are a member or candidate, since the Standards bind individuals; list the duties owed to clients, employer and markets; then test each act against the specific subsection, asking whether the conduct is required, merely recommended or forbidden. Watch for acts that look cautious but still breach a duty, such as keeping a family client out of an allocation, and acts that look risky but are allowed, such as acting on a mosaic conclusion or staying named on a reasonable group report. One act may breach several Standards, and a firm policy never lowers the bar.