Ethics Input Required providing, regarding, research, material, question

transferpricing

Hello,
I have a question regarding one of the ethics questions on the L2 exam which has left me puzzled for some time. Any feedback would be appreciated.
The gist of the question is as follow: ‘you are a research analyst who was written a report providing a recommendation after thorough due diligence. The report is going to print and will be mailed to all clients in the morning. That evening you come across material non public information which goes against your recommendation and can be taken as concrete evidence.’
You should
a) Issue the report
b) Not issue the report
c) Delay the issue of the report until further analysis has been completed (I don’t actually recall if this one of the options)
I would have thought that one should in fact issue the report (answer a) because you have conducted thorough due diligence and that failing to issue the report would be acting on material non public information.
Am I remembering the possible answers correctly? Is the general consensus that A is correct?
Thank you,
Andrew

wizofoz

Sounds to me like the only reason you would pick A is if the report coming out at a certain time was public knowledge. If it is then you would look at a delay as information. Definitely need the question to be word for word though.

troymo

I’m pretty sure the general consensus was A. Unless I’m mistaken, there was a lot of debate after the exam.

luckygiftvn

Reg ‘Material non public information’, you should attempt with the source of informtaion to make it a public information.
Maybe you should attempt that first before issuing your report. That would be part of due diligence as the information surely affects your report.
And delaying the report while doing this should not violate any standards. So, answer (c) could be a good choice.
Actually for Ethics questions, there is meaning in each word of that question. So, if the question cannot be reproduced as it is, then it is probably very difficult to answer it accurately.
Anyways, just my 2 cents of input.