Interest is a goal, value or commitment to something held by a person or institution. Conflict of Interest (COI) is when an individual or institution has a private-capacity interest with the potential of unfittingly influencing their official responsibilities and duties. Therefore, there is an individual COI and institutional COI.
The conflict of interest (COI) management plan refers to a document that guides and implements procedures for actively reducing, eliminating or mitigating a perceived, potential or actual conflict of interest from an employee. This plan aims to manage the said conflict of interest in a proportional transparent manner throughout the working process stages.
Managing conflicts of interests by special committees is essential for the purpose of disclosing stakeholder interests. Stakeholders are required to disclose their interests at a certain stage of the working process and report any likely COI. The disclosures made are reviewed and potential COIs diagnosed and graded. Most importantly, disclosures and management decisions are reported publicly.