A conflict of interest is a situation in which a person's private interests diverge from the person's professional or public interests, and this situation may affect the person's objectivity in performing his or her job. This paper explores the concept of conflict of interest and strategies for resolving it in the public and private sectors. Although many people associate conflict of interest exclusively with the public sector, it is also a significant challenge in the private sector. The paper attempts to identify ways to recognize, manage, and prevent conflicts of interest, which is very important to reduce their frequency. Conflict of interest is one of the most important problems in the organization, so the paper mentions and explains terms that are closely related to the concept of conflict of interest, such as ethics and business ethics, social responsibility, ethical dilemmas and ethical problems. The aim of the paper is to explain the concept of conflict of interest, to explain the types of conflict of interest and to analyze the ways of dealing with conflict of interest in the public and private sectors. In this way, the similarities and differences in dealing with conflicts of interest in the public and private sectors will be identified and a conclusion will be drawn on how to reduce the incidence of conflicts of interest.