{"title":"Making Disciplinary Information about Professional Accountants Available to the Public in Ontario*","authors":"Felix Odartey-Wellington, Leslie Wardley","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12315","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The literature notes popular perceptions that accounting scandals are on the rise and that the accounting profession has a trust deficit. Following the unification of accounting designations in Canada in 2014, this paper draws on legitimacy theory and the practices of other professional bodies to examine how the accounting profession in Ontario communicates its accountability regime to build public trust and protect the interests of lay clients. It has been suggested that previous accounting disciplinary regimes lacked transparency to communicate member offenses to the public and thus protected members from public scrutiny. This study reveals that the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario has evolved its public awareness regime to create easier public access to member disciplinary details, thus engaging both pragmatic and moral legitimacy. However, more needs to be done to ensure consistency with the public interest objectives of maintaining public trust, transparency, and public awareness.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":"21 4","pages":"643-662"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounting Perspectives","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1911-3838.12315","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
The literature notes popular perceptions that accounting scandals are on the rise and that the accounting profession has a trust deficit. Following the unification of accounting designations in Canada in 2014, this paper draws on legitimacy theory and the practices of other professional bodies to examine how the accounting profession in Ontario communicates its accountability regime to build public trust and protect the interests of lay clients. It has been suggested that previous accounting disciplinary regimes lacked transparency to communicate member offenses to the public and thus protected members from public scrutiny. This study reveals that the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario has evolved its public awareness regime to create easier public access to member disciplinary details, thus engaging both pragmatic and moral legitimacy. However, more needs to be done to ensure consistency with the public interest objectives of maintaining public trust, transparency, and public awareness.
期刊介绍:
Accounting Perspectives provides a forum for peer-reviewed applied research, analysis, synthesis and commentary on issues of interest to academics, practitioners, financial analysts, financial executives, regulators, accounting policy makers and accounting students. Articles are sought from academics and practitioners that address relevant issues in any and all areas of accounting and related fields, including financial accounting and reporting, auditing and other assurance services, management accounting and performance measurement, information systems and related technologies, tax policy and practice, professional ethics, accounting education, and related topics. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing.