Citation
(2006), "Awards for Excellence", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 19 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj.2006.05919eaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Awards for Excellence
Mary Parker Follett Award
Named in memory of a pioneering woman in the field of management and accountability literature, who was international and interdisciplinary in her focus.
The following article was selected for this years Outstanding Paper Award for Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Analysis of a failed jurisdictional claim: the rhetoric and politics surrounding the AICPA global credential project
William E. ShaferLingnan University, Tuen Mun, NT, Hong Kong
Yves GendronMississippi State University, Mississippi, USA
Purpose The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) recently proposed a global consulting credential involving a diverse set of professions including accountancy, business law, and information technology. The proposal was widely debated in the professional literature, and was a divisive issue among CPAs. In late 2001, the AICPA membership voted against any further commitment to the credential. The purpose of this paper is to examine the global credential initiative in an effort to understand why professional jurisdictional claims may fail at the theorization stage.
Design/methodology/approach The paper relies primarily on a qualitative review and analysis of archival materials and published articles and commentaries relating to the global credential project.
Findings The analysis indicates that the AICPA failed to establish either the pragmatic or moral legitimacy of the proposed credential in the eyes of the audiences. This failure appears to be attributable to the sociopolitical environment in which the credential was promoted, and to flaws in the rhetoric used by the AICPA to articulate its jurisdictional claim.
Research limitations/implications The paper demonstrates the importance of legitimacy to the ability to successfully theorize institutional changes.
Originality/value This paper investigates how the AICPA theorized the global credential knowledge claim, and how theorization failed to persuade the audiences to support the credential.
Keywords Accounting, Organizational change, Professional associations
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/09513570510609324
AAAJVolume 18 Number 4, 2005, pp. 453-91Editors: James E. Guthrie and Lee D. Parker