Members of the Association of Management Consultants in Hungary understand their mission as to contribute to their Clients’ efficiency with scientifically wellfounded and practically proved high level and objective intellectual services, keeping always in mind the general interests of Hungary and of the human community.

In order to achieve this goal, they voluntarily accept the rules of this Code of Ethics beyond the general rules of businesslike conduct laid down in laws. The Association supports the implementation of these rules by interpretation and explanation of the rules as well as actions against members that infringe the accepted rules.

With the publication of this Code of Ethics, the Association wants to obtain and enhance the appreciation of the society, business community and public opinion for the management consulting profession in order to fulfill its mission even better.

This Code of Ethics covers the relation of Consultants to their Clients on one hand and the relation of management consultants to each other, as well as undesirable phenomena of the market competition on the other hand. In the text of this document the term “Consultant” means consulting firms with all their employees or individual consultants; “Client” means the organization making use (or intending to do so) of the consulting services with all its employees.

1.
The consultant companies shall make every effort to provide that each of their Consultants and other employees observe the rules of this Code of Ethics during their employment and even subsequently.

2.
The Consultant gives always preference to the Client’s interests against its own; makes only recommendations serving the long-term interests of the Client according to its best knowledge and objective assessment of the situation.

3.
The Consultant shall undertake tasks only if it has the basic capabilities for professional and high-level completion of them; it assigns management and control of particular tasks to persons having suitable education and practical skills in that particular domain.

4.
The Consultant shall not undertake participation in cases when its objectivity can be influenced by any factors or such appearance may develop. In uncertain situations the Consultant is obliged to reveal the circumstances influencing its objectivity to the Client and accept the client’s decision on the continuation of the consulting assignment (e.g. simultaneous assignment from rival companies or companies having permanent business relations, personal relations with executives of the Client company, etc.).

5.
The Consultant shall keep all information relating to its Client – learned in course of the consulting activity – strictly confidential and shall impede that such information get to the knowledge of third parties without the consent of the Client. The relation between the Consultant and the Client shall be regulated by a Contract, which is based on thorough knowledge of the task to be carried out. When concluding the Contract the contractual freedom prevails. The Consultant shall formulate the Contract’s regulations – in order to avoid later disputes – clearly, precisely and unambiguously.

6.
The Consultant and its employees must not accept any compensation or allowance from the Client in cash or any other way other than determined in the Contract.

7.
During implementation of its task the Consultant shall closely cooperate with the Client; it shall inform the Client on all circumstances having potential influence to the implementation of the task.

8.
The Consultant shall not conceal the methods applied in course of the assignment to the Client’s personnel.

9.
The Consultant – in case of assignment and with provision of appropriate conditions – is not allowed to avoid participation in the implementation of its recommendations.

10.
The Consultant shall not entice or employ the Client’s staff with whom it got in touch in course of the assignment, and up to one year after its completion, except with the consent of the Client’s highest executive. (Analogous conduct is expected also from the Client).

11.
Although Consultants are competing in the market they respect each other and work jointly on the enhancement of the profession’s prestige. They shall not take any actions or make any declaration, that can put other Consultants (firms or persons) in the shade and impair their authority.

12.
If two or more Consultants perform identical assignments at the same Client (so-called competitive assignment) they shall concentrate on carrying out the tasks rather than to criticizing each other.

13.
If several Consultants work simultaneously on different tasks at the same Client, they shall contact each other and fix the potential interfaces. In overlapping issues they shall make coordinated recommendations or in case of contradictory opinions they shall reveal them to the Client.

14.
The Consultant shall not undertake supervision and judgement of other consultants’ work except with the knowledge of the latter. In such cases the Consultant shall cooperate with the company performing the task in order to get informed on in the underlying facts and reasons of the conclusions and recommendations.

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The Code of Ethics covers the General principles of the sound professional conduct of management consultants.
If there are uncertainties or disputes between parties in the interpretation of the rules or their application in specific cases the Ethical Committee of the Association shall be consulted and its standpoint shall prevail.