Abstract.
The accounting profession’s image and reputation is built upon the members of the profession acting with the “highest sense of integrity” in “the public interest” (AICPA, 2003, www.aicpa.org/about). The Enron debacle initiated the latest crisis facing the profession regarding its image and reputation. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the largest professional body representing the accounting profession and the one to which regulators have looked in establishing and upholding professional standards relating to the public practice of accounting and auditing. One of the AICPA’s responsibilities is to “promote public awareness and confidence in the integrity, objectivity, competence and professionalism of CPAs ....” (AICPA, 2003, www.aicpa.org/about). We analyze the public statements issued by the AICPA (i.e., press releases, speeches of officers, testimony, published articles) during this ethical and identity crisis beginning with the AICPA’s first public statement on the Enron debâcle (AIPCA 2001) and concluding with the AICPA recognizing the need for a “new accounting culture” (Melancon 2002). In order to better understand the public discourse, we use image restoration theory (Benoit, 1995), because it provides a typology of strategies for dealing with the public face of crises. We identify the three most common strategies the AICPA employs during this period. Proposals for taking corrective action represent the most commonly employed strategy, but the analysis also indicates an attempt to evade responsibility by claiming defeasibility and to reduce the offensiveness of the situation by employing a bolstering strategy. A second analysis using DICTION, a software package useful in revealing latent dimensions in a text, indicates that early statements tend to use language related to accomplishing specific action while the later statements tend more toward general language that relates to peoples’ everyday lives. The findings raise questions as to substantive nature of the changes proposed by the AICPA, and thus, the extent to which the public interest is being served by them.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AICPA: 2003, www.aicpa.org/about.
AICPA, December 4: 2001, ’AICPA Statement of James G. Castellano and Barry Melancon’. Press Release, www.aicpa.org
AICPA, January 16: 2002, ’AICPA’s Response to Enron Bankruptcy’. Press Release, www.aicpa.org
AICPA, January 24: 2002, ’Transcript of Barry C. Melancon Interview’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, February 1: 2002, ’Statement Regarding Scope of Services’. http://www.aicpa.org.
AICPA, February 1: 2002, ’Transcript of Barry C. Melancon Interview’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, February 2: 2002, ’Letter to Members’. http://aicpa.org
AICPA, February 6: 2002, ’Testimony of AICPA before the New York State Senate Higher Education Committee’.
AICPA, February 14: 2002, ’AICPA Chairman, In Testimony, Calls for Reform’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, February 14: 2002, ’Minutes: Are Current Financial Accounting Standards Protecting Investors’. Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
AICPA, February 20: 2002, ’Letter to Members in Business and Industry with Respect to Virtual Toolkit’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, February 20: 2002, ’Letter to Members in Public Practice with Respect to Virtual Toolkit’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, February 28: 2002, ’New Fraud Standard Proposed for Nation’s Auditors’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, March 13: 2003, ’Statement of Barry Melancon before the Committee on Financial Services’. United States House of Representatives.
AICPA, March 13: 2003, ’Review of Statement of Barry Melancon before the United States House of Representatives’. http://www.aicpa.org
AICPA, March 14: 2002, ’Accountants Back Reforms to Increase Audit Quality and Corporate Accountability’. http://www.aicpa.org.
AICPA, April 24: 2002, ’Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002’. http://www.aicpa.org
InstitutionalAuthorNameAICPA (1939) ArticleTitle’Editorial’ Journal of Accountancy 67 IssueID2 65–69
Balhoff, W.: 2002, Remarks Before the Committee on Banking Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate. March 14
W.L. Benoit P. Gullifor D. Panici (1991) ArticleTitle’Reagan’s discourse on the Iran-Contra affair’ Communication Studies 42 272–94
W.L. Benoit S.L. Brinson (1994) ArticleTitle’AT&T: Apologies are not enough’ Communication Quarterly 42 75–88
Benoit, W.L.: 1995, Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies, (SUNY-Albany Press)
W.L. Benoit (1997) ArticleTitle’Image Repair Discourse and Crisis Communication’ Public Relations Review Summer 23 177–187
J.R. Blaney W.L. Benoit L.M. Brazeal (2002) ArticleTitle’Blowout!: Firestone’s Image Restoration Campaign’ Public Relations Review 28 IssueID4 379 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0363-8111(02)00163-7
J.R. Blaney W.L. Benoit (2002) The Clinton Scandals and the Politics of Image Restoration Praeger New York
Briloff, A.: 1990, ‘Accountancy and Society: A Covenant Desecrated’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting March, 5–30
Byington, J. and S. Sutton: 1991, The Self-regulating Profession: An Analysis of the Political Monopoly Tendencies of the Audit Profession, Critical Perspectives on Accounting December, 325–330.
Castellano, J.G.: 2002, ‘Restoring Public Confidence’, Journal of Accountancy New York, 193.
Castellano, J.G.: 2002, ‘Remarks Before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs’, United States Senate. March 14.
Castellano, J.G.: 2002, ‘Let’s Play to Our Strength’, Journal of Accountancy New York, 193.
Castellano, J.G. and Barry C. Melancon 2002, ‘To The Members of the AICPA’, Journal of Accountancy, New York, 193.
Copeland, J.E. 2002, ‘Remarks Before the Committee on Banking Housing, and Urban Affairs’, United States Senate. March 14.
K. Cowden T.L. Sellnow (2002) ArticleTitle’Issues advertising as Crisis Communications: Northwest Airlines’ Use of Image Restoration Strategies During the 1998 Pilot’s Strike Journal of Business Communication 39 IssueID2 193–220
Davis, H. and J. Strawser: 1993, ‘The Accounting profession: Expert Witnesses and/or Advocate?’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting June, 141–127.
Fogarty, T., J. Heian and D. Knutson: 1991, ‘The Rationality of ‘Doing Nothing’: Responses to Legal Liability in an Institutionalized Environment’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting September, 201–226.
W.C. Fotheringham (1966) Perspectives on Persuasion Allyn and Bacon Boston
R.P. Hart (1984) ArticleTitle’The Language of the Modern Presidency’ Presidential Studies Quarterly 14 249–264
Hart, R.P.: 1997, Diction 4.0, User’s Manual (Scolari, Sage Publications Software)
C. Humphrey S. Turley P. Moizer (1993) ArticleTitle’Protecting Against Detection: The Case of Auditors and Fraud?’ Accounting, Auditing, and Accountability Journal 6 IssueID1 39–62 Occurrence Handle10.1108/09513579310027512
R. Ice (1991) ArticleTitle’Corporate Publics and Rhetorical Strategies: The case of Union Carbide’s Bhopal Crisis’ Management Communication Quarterly 4 341–362
Kirtley, Olivia.: 2002, ‘Remarks Before the Committee on Banking Housing, and Urban Affairs’, United States Senate. March 14
T. Lee (1995) ArticleTitle’The professionalization of Accountancy’ Accounting, Auditing, and Accountability Journal 8 IssueID4 48–69 Occurrence Handle10.1108/09513579510100725
Melancon: 2002, ‘A New Accounting Culture’ Journal of Accountancy, October, 27–32
Mitchell, A. and P. Sikka: 1993, Accounting for Change: The Institutions of Accounting’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting March, 29–52.
O’Leary, A.C. and M. El-Nawaway: 2002, ‘A Content Analysis of Image Restoration in Northern Ireland: Public Communication Strategies of Political Parties’, Simile.
L. Parker (1994) ArticleTitle’Professional Accounting Body Ethics: In Search of Private Investment’ Accounting, Organizations, and Society 19 IssueID6 507–526 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0361-3682(94)90021-3
G. Previts B. Merino (1998) A History of Accounting in the United States Ohio State University Press Columbus, OH
A. Richardson (1988) ArticleTitle’Accounting Knowledge and Professional Privilege’ Accounting, Organizations and Society 13 IssueID4 381–396 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0361-3682(88)90012-8
P. Sikka H. Willmott T. Lowe (1989) ArticleTitle’Guardians of Knowledge and Public Interest: Evidence and Issues of Accountability in the UK Accounting Profession’ Accounting, Auditing, and Accountability Journal 2 IssueID2 47–71 Occurrence Handle10.1108/09513578910132286
B.L. Ware W.A. Linkugel (1973) ArticleTitle’They Spoke in Defencs of Themselves: On the Generic Criticism of Apologia’ Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 273–283 Occurrence Handle10.1080/00335637309383176
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rogers, R.K., Dillard, J. & Yuthas, K. The Accounting Profession: Substantive Change and/or Image Management. J Bus Ethics 58, 159–176 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-1401-z
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-1401-z