Software Engineering

Code of Ethics and

Professional Practice
A P P R O V E D B Y T H E A SS O C I AT I O N F O R
C OMPU TIN G MAC H IN ERY ( AC M ) AN D TH E
IEEE(INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS)-CS( COMPUTER
S O C I E T Y ) A S T H E S TA N D A R D F O R T E A C H I N G
A N D P R A C T I C I N G S O F T WA R E E N G I N E E R I N G .
Software engineers shall commit themselves
to making the analysis, specification,
design, development, testing and
maintenance of software a beneficial and
respected profession.
In accordance with their commitment to the
health, safety and welfare of the public,
software engineers shall adhere to the
following Eight Principles:
Software Engineering Code of Ethics and
Professional Practice (Short Version)
 The Eight Principles:

1. PUBLIC
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER
3. PRODUCT
4. JUDGMENT
5. MANAGEMENT
6. PROFESSION
7. COLLEAGUES
8. SELF
 1. PUBLIC

PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act

consistently with the public interest.
 2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

Software engineers shall act in a manner that

is in the best interests of their client and
employer consistent with the public interest.
 3. PRODUCT

Software engineers shall ensure that their

products and related modifications meet the
highest professional standards possible.
 4. JUDGMENT

Software engineers shall maintain integrity

and independence in their professional
judgment.
 5. MANAGEMENT

Software engineering managers and leaders

shall subscribe to and promote an ethical
approach to the management of software
development and maintenance.
 6. PROFESSION

Software engineers shall advance the

integrity and reputation of the profession
consistent with the public interest.
 7. COLLEAGUES

Software engineers shall be fair to and

supportive of their colleagues.
 8. SELF

Software engineers shall participate in

lifelong learning regarding the practice of
their profession and shall promote an ethical
approach to the practice of the profession.
 Software Engineering Code of Ethics
and Professional Practice (Full Version)

Software engineers are those who contribute

by direct participation or by teaching,
analyze, specification, design, development,
certification, maintenance and testing of
software systems.
Because of their roles in developing software
systems, software engineers have significant
opportunities to do good or cause harm, to
enable others to do good or cause harm, or to
influence others to do good or cause harm.
To ensure, as much as possible, that their
efforts will be used for good, software
engineers must commit themselves to making
software engineering a beneficial and
respected profession.
In accordance with that commitment,
software engineers shall adhere to the
following Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice.
 The PRINCIPLES

Principle 1: PUBLIC
Software engineers shall act consistently with
the public interest. In particular, software
engineers shall, as appropriate:
1. Accept full responsibility for their own work.
2. Moderate the interests of the software
engineer, the employer, the client and the users
with the public good.
3. Approve software only if they have a well-
founded belief that it is safe, meets
specifications, passes appropriate tests, and
does not diminish quality of life, diminish
privacy or harm the environment. The
ultimate effect of the work should be to the
public good.
4. Disclose to appropriate persons or
authorities any actual or potential danger to
the user, the public, or the environment, that
they reasonably believe to be associated with
software or related documents.
5. Cooperate in efforts to address matters of
grave public concern caused by software, its
installation, maintenance, support or
documentation.
6. Be fair and avoid deception in all
statements, particularly public ones,
concerning software or related documents,
methods and tools.
8. Be encouraged to volunteer professional
skills to good causes and contribute to public
education concerning the discipline.
Principle 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

Software engineers shall act in a manner

that is in the best interests of their client and
employer, consistent with the public interest.
In particular, software engineers shall, as
appropriate:
 1

Provide service in their areas of competence,

being honest and forthright about any
limitations of their experience and education.
 2

Not knowingly use software that is obtained

or retained either illegally or unethically.
 3

Use the property of a client or employer only

in ways properly authorized, and with the
client's or employer's knowledge and consent.
 4

Ensure that any document upon which they

rely has been approved, when required, by
someone authorized to approve it.
 5

Keep private any confidential information

gained in their professional work, where such
confidentiality is consistent with the public
interest and consistent with the law.
 6

Identify, document, collect evidence and

report to the client or the employer promptly
if, in their opinion, a project is likely to fail, to
prove too expensive, to violate intellectual
property law, or otherwise to be problematic.
 7

Identify, document, and report significant

issues of social concern, of which they are
aware, in software or related documents, to
the employer or the client.
 8

 Accept no outside work detrimental to the

work they perform for their primary
employer.
 Principle 3: PRODUCT

Software engineers shall ensure that their

products and related modifications meet the
highest professional standards possible. In
particular, software engineers shall, as
appropriate:
 1

Strive for high quality, acceptable cost and a

reasonable schedule, ensuring significant
tradeoffs are clear to and accepted by the
employer and the client, and are available for
consideration by the user and the public.
 2

Ensure proper and achievable goals and

objectives for any project on which they work
or propose.
 3

Identify, define and address ethical,

economic, cultural, legal and environmental
issues related to work projects.
 4

Ensure that they are qualified for any project

on which they work or propose to work by an
appropriate combination of education and
training, and experience.
 5

Ensure an appropriate method is used for any

project on which they work or propose to
work.

 6

Work to follow professional standards, when

available, that are most appropriate for the
task at hand, departing from these only when
ethically or technically justified.
 7

Strive to fully understand the specifications

for software on which they work.
 8

Ensure that specifications for software on

which they work have been well documented,
satisfy the users’ requirements and have the
appropriate approvals.
 9

Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of

cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and
outcomes on any project on which they work
or propose to work and provide an
uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
 10

Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and

review of software and related documents on
which they work.
 11

Ensure adequate documentation, including

significant problems discovered and solutions
adopted, for any project on which they work.
 12

Be careful to use only accurate data derived

by ethical and lawful means, and use it only
in ways properly authorized.
 13

Treat all forms of software maintenance with

the same professionalism as new
development.
 Principle 4: JUDGEMENT

Only endorse documents either prepared

under their supervision or within their areas
of competence and with which they are in
agreement.
 1

Maintain professional objectivity with respect

to any software or related documents they
are asked to evaluate.
 2

Not engage in deceptive financial practices

such as bribery, double billing, or other
improper financial practices.
 3

 Disclose to all concerned parties those

conflicts of interest that cannot reasonably be
avoided or escaped.
 Principle 5: MANAGEMENT

Software engineering managers and leaders

shall subscribe to and promote an ethical
approach to the management of software
development and maintenance . In particular,
those managing or leading software
engineers shall, as appropriate:
 1

Ensure good management for any project on

which they work, including effective
procedures for promotion of quality and
reduction of risk.
 2

Ensure that software engineers are informed

of standards before being held to them.
 3

Ensure that software engineers know the

employer's policies and procedures for
protecting passwords, files and information
that is confidential to the employer or
confidential to others.
 4

Assign work only after taking into account

appropriate contributions of education and
experience tempered with a desire to further
that education and experience.
 5

Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of

cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and
outcomes on any project on which they work
or propose to work, and provide an
uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
 6

Attract potential software engineers only by

full and accurate description of the conditions
of employment.
 7

Offer fair and just remuneration.

 8

Not unjustly prevent someone from taking a

position for which that person is suitably
qualified.
 9

Ensure that there is a fair agreement

concerning ownership of any software,
processes, research, writing, or other
intellectual property to which a software
engineer has contributed.
 10

Provide for due process in hearing charges of

violation of an employer's policy or of this
Code.
 11

Not ask a software engineer to do anything

inconsistent with this Code.
 12

Not punish anyone for expressing ethical

concerns about a project.
 Principle 6: PROFESSION

Software engineers shall advance the

integrity and reputation of the profession
consistent with the public interest. In
particular, software engineers shall, as
appropriate:
 1

 Help develop an organizational environment

favorable to acting ethically.
 2

Promote public knowledge of software

engineering.
 3

Extend software engineering knowledge by

appropriate participation in professional
organizations, meetings and publications.
 4

Support, as members of a profession, other

software engineers striving to follow this
Code.
 5

Be accurate in stating the characteristics of

software on which they work, avoiding not
only false claims but also claims that might
reasonably be supposed to be speculative,
deceptive, misleading, or doubtful.
 6

Take responsibility for detecting, correcting,

and reporting errors in software and
associated documents on which they work.
 7

Ensure that clients, employers, and

supervisors know of the software engineer's
commitment to this Code of ethics, and the
subsequent ramifications of such
commitment.
 8

Avoid associations with businesses and

organizations which are in conflict with this
code.
 9

Recognize that violations of this Code are

inconsistent with being a professional
software engineer.
 10

Report significant violations of this Code to

appropriate authorities when it is clear that
consultation with people involved in these
significant violations is impossible,
counterproductive or dangerous.
 Principle 7: COLLEAGUES

Software engineers shall be fair to and

supportive of their colleagues. In particular,
software engineers shall, as appropriate:
 1

Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.

 2

Assist colleagues in professional

development.
 3

Credit fully the work of others and refrain

from taking undue credit.
 4

Review the work of others in an objective,

candid, and properly-documented way.
 5

Give a fair hearing to the opinions, concerns,

or complaints of a colleague.
 6

In situations outside of their own areas of

competence, call upon the opinions of other
professionals who have competence in that
area.
 Principle 8: SELF

Software engineers shall participate in

lifelong learning regarding the practice of
their profession and shall promote an ethical
approach to the practice of the profession. In
particular, software engineers shall
continually endeavor to:
 1

Further their knowledge of developments in

the analysis, specification, design,
development, maintenance and testing of
software and related documents, together
with the management of the development
process.
 2

Improve their ability to create safe, reliable,

and useful quality software at reasonable cost
and within a reasonable time.
 3

Improve their ability to produce accurate,

informative, and well-written documentation.
 4

Improve their understanding of the software

and related documents on which they work
and of the environment in which they will be
used.
 5

Improve their knowledge of this Code, its

interpretation, and its application to their
work.
 6

Not influence others to undertake any action

that involves a breach of this Code.
 7

Recognize that personal violations of this

Code are inconsistent with being a
professional software engineer.