Draft version 1.7 beta — Revised October 29, 2026

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Misrepresenting qualifications

A topic page linked from Chapter 4.5, Examples of Reported Violations of Enforceable Ethics Codes.

Definition

Misrepresenting your qualifications, whether involving your credentials (relevant university degree, professional certification or license) or your competence (relevant knowledge, skills, and experience), if successful at convincing an employer or client, puts you on a trajectory toward incompetent or negligent practice, and possibly fraud. Black's Law Dictionary ¹ offers the following relevant entries:

fraud. n. (14c) 1. A knowing misrepresentation or knowing concealment of a material fact made to induce another to act to his or her detriment...

misrepresentation. n. (17c) 1. The act or an instance of making a materially false or misleading assertion about something, usually with the intent to deceive. • The word denotes not just written or spoken words but also any other conduct that amounts to a false assertion...

As an example of how misrepresentation of qualifications is prohibited in a code related to state licensure of geoscientists, the relevant code in California ² has the following relevant provisions:

(1) A licensee shall not misrepresent, or permit the misrepresentation, of his or her professional qualifications, affiliations, or purposes, or those of the institutions, organizations, or other businesses with which they are associated.

(3) A licensee shall not misrepresent his or her qualifications to a prospective or existing client or employer.

Misrepresenting your qualifications is an ethical and perhaps legal breach even if you do not later have the opportunity to act beyond your qualifications as a result of your misrepresentation.

ASBOG included misrepresentation of professional qualifications as one of the 13 ethical issues in its Task Analysis surveys in 2010 and 2015, each of which was completed by a few thousand respondents—professional geoscientists and academics in the United States and Canada.^5-7 The results of those surveys indicated that misrepresentation of professional qualifications was considered among the most serious problems.

Relevant provisions in geoethics codes

AEG – § 2.5; AIPG – § 3.3.1; CAL – § c1, c3.

Code Abbreviations

AEG — Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists, AEG Code of Conduct (2018), Link to current document

AIPG — American Institute of Professional Geologists, AIPG Code of Ethics (2019), Link to current document

CAL — Regulations Relating to the Practices of Geology and Geophysics, California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 29, Section 3065, Professional Standards and Code of Professional Conduct – Professional Geology and Professional Geophysics (2026), Link to current document; see pages 30 to 33.

Notes and References

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