The genesis of professional organization in Scotland: a contextual analysis

Article Abstract:

The factors that prompted the early organization of professional accountants in Scotland are examined. Institutes of accountants began to emerge in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1853, 17 years ahead of the formation of similar associations in England. It has been contended that the early formation of Scottish professional accounting bodies is the result of the differences between the Scottish and English legal systems, the emergence of an industrial society and the consequent increase in the demand for accounting services, and the Scottish accountants' need to achieve social closure and collective social mobility. However, it is argued that these explanations are misguided. Using a critical-conflict based analysis of occupation organization, it is revealed that Scottish accountants were compelled to band together primarily to preserve the economic and social status quo from exogenous forces, such as London merchants and occupational usurpers.

Professional Organizations, Professional Organizations NEC, Associations, institutions, etc., Associations, Professional associations

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Corporatism and structural change in the British accountancy profession, 1930-1957

Article Abstract:

The socio-economic and political changes in the UK brought about by the Second World War and its aftermath created the perception that the country's multi-organized accounting profession was archaic and in need of reform. A study is conducted to examine efforts to coordinate the profession during the war and the years of post-war reconstruction in the context of British corporatism. Findings reveal that the coordination movement succeeded in gaining representation for the profession before the central government by establishing a Coordinating Committee. However, it failed to unify the profession through legislation aimed at achieving a legal public practice monopoly because of the participant organizations' unsuitable constitutional structures, their failure to subsume particularist agendas and their lack of understanding of the influence of government and mandarin civil servants in a corporatist state.

United Kingdom, Economic aspects, Services, History, Accounting firms, Accounting services, World War II, 1939-1945

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The defence of professional monopoly: Scottish chartered accountants and "satellites in the accountancy firmament" 1854-1914

Article Abstract:

The successful defense of the professional privilege of Scottish accountants depended on the implementation of a functionalist evaluation of accountants' roles in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Functionalism was so strong as an ideological basis for defending monopolies that it overrode principles of existing socio-political philosophy and the admission of self interest. The preservation of the chartered monopoly of Scottish accountants between 1854 and 1914 revealed the process of professionalization, which partly explains why accounting organizations have such a disunified structure in the UK.

Analysis, Practice, Monopolies

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