Pecuniary or financial interests may result from owning property, holding shares or positions in companies or trusts, debts owed to other people, receiving gifts, income from working elsewhere, hospitality and sponsored travel. This list is not exhaustive.
It is not necessary for the person to hold these interests directly. A family member or close associate may hold them. This is seen to be the same as being an interest of the person because of the closeness of the relationship.
By way of example, consider the situation where a member of the project steering committee owned shares in a company that was bidding for a public private partnership project. It is clear that the value of the member's shares could be affected by the outcome of the competitive bid process. It would be reasonable to believe that the member could be influenced by that potential outcome when doing his or her job and, accordingly, a conflict would arise.
It may be accepted within government that the person would put to one side the personal interest in the matter and carry out his/her work duties in good faith. However, the appropriate test is whether a third party acting reasonably (the 'reasonable person' test) would be satisfied. It is not necessary that the person would or will act in favour of their personal interest. The issue is that if the person is in a position of conflict, there will always be an element of doubt that cannot be removed and this may give rise to legal action. The aim is to prevent such situations arising.