The ACA Code of Ethics: structure, purposes and the six moral principles
Last reviewed September 2026 by Dr. Andrew Wichterman · Aligned to the current NCE blueprint. Valid for exams through June 30, 2027.
AI-narrated overview made with Google NotebookLM. The written lesson below is by Dr. Andrew Wichterman.
Professional Practice and Ethics is twelve percent of the current exam, and most of those items resolve to one of six principles. Learn the principles well enough to name which one an item is really about and the answers get easier.
Try to answer each from memory first, even if you have to guess. Guessing before reading makes the answer stick; reveal only after you have tried.
What the Code is
The ACA Code of Ethics, most recently revised in 2014, sets the professional standard for counselors. It is organized into nine sections: the counseling relationship; confidentiality and privacy; professional responsibility; relationships with other professionals; evaluation, assessment and interpretation; supervision, training and teaching; research and publication; distance counseling, technology and social media; and resolving ethical issues.
A revised Code is in preparation: ACA opened a draft for public comment in early 2026 and plans to adopt the final version in fall 2026. Until it is adopted and NBCC updates its items, the 2014 Code remains in force and is the one the NCE tests. ACA has said the core values and six principles will not change; expect new language on artificial intelligence, telehealth and record keeping. Check counseling.org before your exam date.
The 2014 revision added the technology section, made explicit that counselors may not refer clients based on the counselor's personal values, and organized the standards on nonprofessional relationships under "extending counseling boundaries." The older "dual relationships" language had already been dropped in the 2005 revision.
The six principles
Autonomy: respecting the client's right to make their own decisions. Nonmaleficence: doing no harm, the principle most often cited as primary. Beneficence: actively working for the client's good. Justice: fairness and equal treatment. Fidelity: honoring commitments and keeping trust. Veracity: truthfulness.
Most ethics items are a conflict between two of these. A client wants to make a choice you think is harmful: autonomy versus beneficence. A client asks you to keep a secret that endangers someone: fidelity versus nonmaleficence. Naming the conflict tells you what the exam is really asking.
Ethics versus law
Ethics are the profession's standards; laws are the state's. They usually agree. When they conflict, the Code directs counselors to make known their commitment to the Code and take steps to resolve the conflict; if it cannot be resolved, counselors may adhere to the law. The exam tests this ordering: attempt to resolve first, then comply with law. It also tests that a legal action can still be unethical and an ethical action can occasionally be illegal.
Mandatory versus aspirational ethics
Mandatory ethics is compliance with the minimum standards: the "must" and "must not" statements. Aspirational ethics is striving toward the highest ideals of the profession. An item describing a counselor who does exactly what is required and nothing more is describing mandatory ethics; one describing a counselor who pursues the client's best interests beyond the rules is describing aspirational ethics.
Values, competence and referral
Counselors must not impose their values on clients. The 2014 Code specifically prohibits referring a client solely because of the counselor's personally held values, attitudes or beliefs. Referral is appropriate for lack of competence, meaning skills or training, not for value differences. When an item describes a counselor uncomfortable with a client's beliefs or identity, the answer is to seek supervision and training, not to refer.
Without scrolling up, write everything you remember from this lesson. Then check yourself against the key terms. Recalling the whole lesson once, right after reading it, does more than reading it twice.
Ten more questions from the whole domain, with an explanation after each answer.
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