Regulation and governance of the professions: institutional work and the demise of 'delegated' self-regulation of the accounting profession

Abstract

While professions are now widely viewed as primary societal institutional agents (Scott, 2008) assuming central roles in creating, disrupting and maintaining prevailing institutions (Currie, Lockett, Finn, Martin, & Waring, 2012; Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006; Lawrence, Suddaby & Leca, 2009, 2011; Suddaby & Viale, 2011), they are also often the objects of institutional change efforts, especially regarding how they are regulated. Nowhere has this change been more profound than in the accounting profession. In the last 15 years as the profession has evolved to embrace and serve globalised enterprise, it has come under increased scrutiny. This is especially evident in the steady imposition of independent oversight bodies established to supervise key aspects of its governance. This represents a major disruption to a regulatory regime that prevailed for almost a century in several western European jurisdictions (Canning & O'Dwyer, 2013; Caramanis, Dedoulis, & Leventis, 2015; Hazgui & Gendron, 2015; Malsch & Gendron, 2011; Quack & Schubler, 2017)