The Structure of the Profession

Abstract

The accountancy profession in the UK is one of its oldest, most influential and diverse. There can be few other business communities in this country which impinge so much on the operation of government, public service, private industry, regulatory structures and individuals. Its senior practitioners, largely combined in massive professional partnerships, provide guidance to the chief executives of the largest and the smallest enterprises in the land. They steer Cabinet ministers through privatisations and produce feasibility studies on political hot potatoes. Their insolvency and corporate finance specialists save businesses from collapse and, rather like elegant scrap metal merchants, salvage the potentially profitable from the corporate graveyard. In their regional and central practices they are seeking out the ICIs, Shells and BATs of tomorrow. Their tax practitioners save thousands of pounds in tax payments for the independently wealthy and directors of a large swathe of British industry.