Professional Practice, Ethics, Conduct and Regulatory Compliance
What the exam tests
This domain tests professional conduct under the Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers Act 1981 and the Malaysian Valuation Standards. It rewards independence, competence, confidentiality and documented reasoning.
Core rules
- Accept instructions only within competence and after agreeing terms of engagement, scope, fee basis and limitations. Fees must not be contingent on the value reported.
- Disclose conflicts of interest and decline or manage them. Do not act for two parties where confidentiality or objectivity is compromised.
- Keep client information confidential, but comply with law, court orders and regulatory requests.
- Maintain independence: no pressure from lenders, borrowers, developers or intermediaries should alter the valuation.
- Keep contemporaneous working papers, inspections, comparables and assumptions. Comply with anti-money-laundering and record-keeping obligations.
Worked example
A borrower asks a valuer to support a bank loan by raising a valuation from RM4.8 million to RM5.5 million. The valuer reviews the comparables: the best evidence supports RM4.8 million. The valuer refuses the instruction, records the request, and reports Market Value at RM4.8 million with the basis, date, assumptions and limiting conditions. If the client insists, the valuer may decline the engagement and should not issue a misleading report.
Traps
Contingent fees; accepting an unqualified instruction outside competence; failing to disclose a conflict; using confidential information for another client; and signing a report prepared by an unqualified person.