THE POWER OF INDEPENDENCE - DEFENDING AND EXTENDING THE JURISDICTION OF ACCOUNTING IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM

Accountants are part of what Abbott describes as ''the system of professions''. Within this system, each professional group strives to defend and expand its area of jurisdiction in competition with rival professions. However, challenges to the accountancy profession do not necessarily come only from those who seek to occupy its territory. Challenges also come from journalists, academics, politicians and others who have no desire to occupy the territory of accountants but can nevertheless advance some competing discourses that may disrupt and weaken the profession's capacity to secure and expand its domain. The paper argues that in the process of defining, defending and extending its jurisdiction, the accountancy profession attaches considerable importance to its image of ''independence''. Drawing upon evidence provided from three case studies relating to the events in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, the profession is shown to have taken a number of initiatives to defend and reinforce this ''image''. In its efforts to neutralize and discredit challenges to its aura of independence, the profession has developed and deployed a variety of tactics. These include revising its ethical guidelines, refining its disciplinary arrangements, as well as by mobilizing other agencies, including the state, politicians, media, accounting academics, etc., in support of its claims. In a society marked by numerous social divisions, the accountancy profession is not in a position to ward off all challengers. Nevertheless by the use of such tactics, it is argued that it seeks to neutralize threats to self-regulation and to redefine the terrain on which it combats its challengers.