My GF, who is a professional editor (and a good one) was stumped by this (bolding mine):
“If the agency and principal duties seem a bit conflicting it is because they are. This is why the SEC decided to create regulation…”
She has the sense that it should be “conflicted” instead of “conflicting” but she is not sure.
Is there a factual answer to this? Opinions?
Well, the reference to the SEC makes me think it’s US English. Here’s what Merriam-Webster has to say:
conflicting: being in conflict, collision, or opposition : INCOMPATIBLE (example: conflicting theories)
conflicted: experiencing or marked by ambivalence or a conflict especially of emotions (example: this unhappy and conflicted modern woman, by John Updike; conflicted feelings)
The term “conflicted” applies to a state of mind and hence is typically associated with the feelings of a person or the personification of an organization, while “conflicting” applies to a set of facts. In this case one can make an argument for either, depending on whether one wants to regard the agency as possessing feelings and motivations or simply regard the scenario as a set of incongruent facts, so I don’t think there’s an incontrovertible factual answer. Personally I’d go with “conflicting” because it seems to be describing the facts of the agency’s mandate, or I might possibly consider rewording the sentence and using a word like “incongruent” or “contradictory”.
Of the two, “conflicting” is probably better, but I would probably use “in conflict”.
Spelling error makes this difficult to understand.
SDMB delivers.
I really wish I had access to the SDMB hive mind in high school (the internet did not exist when I was in high school).
Thanks all!
This seems like the most clear usage.
Thanks to AI, it soon will be!
Thanks for the note – I must be getting senile! I just barely had time to fix the stupid mistake! 
Yeah, I would also rewrite. “If they seem to conflict, that’s because they do.”
I was going to make this exact suggestion. Talk about hive minds!
We’re all conflicted about whether to express a conflicting opinion.
That is the solution, conflict becomes a noun. Using a verb there is confusing in that sentence.