PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

It is important for the accountancy profession to portray a proper professional image of the public accountants. If there is not a proper public image of the accountants, the accounting profession will not be able to attract and retain talented people to join the profession, and the profession may not be able to gain the necessary respect and trust from the public. Thus, this may jeopardize the status of today’s accountants as a profession. While the large accounting firms and the profession have long been trying to change the stereotype of traditional accountants to business professionals, we are not sure if their mission to change public image perception has been accomplished. It is said that “the greatest challenge for accounting is still its image. The traditional accountant stereotype has a long history and accountants were described as cold, aloof, and impersonal some forty years ago. In the more recent literature, there are different studies on the perceptions of accounting and the accountancy profession. Quite often, the roles of accountants are associated with the work of bookkeepers with a bean counter stereotype being dull, dry, unimaginative, precise and abiding to rules. Studies related to perceptions of the accounting work and the accounting professions have been examined in different countries such as Australia, New Zealand, USA, Romania, Ireland, Syria, Holland and et at., ranging from the perspectives of the secondary students, university students and accountants themselves. Apparently, there is only a limited number of studies in Asia. This study is to examine the perception of accounting and accountants in Mainland China and City of Macau, a Special Administrative Region of Mainland China. The study of the perceptions of accounting and accountancy profession in China and Macau appears to be rare. Also, Mainland China and Macau are chosen for this study because both Macau and Mainland are fast growing economies and with their own unique features and cultural environments which are different from the studies conducted in the West. The results of the perceptions of Mainland people and Macau people will also be compared.

Public opinion is of critical importance to members of the accounting profession. Most accountants are in the business of serving others, whether that be through audits, consulting, or tax form preparation services. The vitality of the profession rests on the public’s faith in the services we provide, and this faith is affected by the trust, or mistrust, of accountants. A side effect of a negative public image is the distortion it lends to the work of an accountant. When people are uncomfortable with their auditors for whatever reason they often tend to project a false appearance during their review (as did my co-workers during the audit of our department). The workers will assume the appearances that they think the auditor wishes to see, when in truth the auditor wants to see the business as it is from day to day. The discomfort that leads to false impressions ultimately leads to the distortion of an auditor’s report. In this case, the client cannot truly receive all of the useful information the accountant might otherwise provide, and the accountant’s reputation may later suffer from statements he made based on faked appearances. This process lends itself to an endless cycle of negative perceptions leading to less-than-perfect conclusions leading to negative perceptions.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The accountancy profession has a key role in delivering public value, the survey findings shows.  Asked to rate a number of professions or sectors in terms of their public value, 38% of participants give accountancy a ‘very high’ rating, placing it second only to the medical profession (rated ‘very high’ by 43%). However, when also taking into account participants who perceive ‘high’ public value, the accountancy profession moves ahead of all others – being seen as having ‘high’ or ‘very high’ public value by 88% of participants, compared to 78% for the medical profession and 77% for banking, amidst this the accounting profession has suffered some criticism by the public. It is on this premise that the researcher intends to investigate public perception of the accounting profession in Nigeria.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of public perception of the accounting profession. But for the purpose of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following objectives;

1. To ascertain the effect of public perception of accounting profession on the growth of the profession
2. To ascertain the impact of public perception on accounting ethics

• To ascertain the relationship between public perception and accounting concepts

1. To investigate the role of professional body in building the public image of the profession

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses are formulated by the researcher

H₀: there is no significant effect of public perception of the accounting profession on the growth of the profession.

H₁: there is a significant effect of public perception of the public perception of the accounting profession on the growth of accounting profession

H₀²: there is no significant relationship between public perception and the professional ethics.

H₂: there is a significant relationship between public perception and the professional ethics.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is perceived that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of importance to the professional bodies in the accounting profession who is responsible in building the public image of the profession by disciplining any member who violate the profession code of ethics. The study will also be useful to practicing accountant to ensure that they comply with the professional code of conduct and guide line in discharging their professional duties. The study will also be beneficial to researchers who intend to embark on study in similar topic as the study will serve as a guide to their study. Finally the study will be beneficial to academia’s students and the general public.

1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers public perception of the accounting profession. But in the cause of the study; the researcher encounters some limitation to the scope of the study;

(a)Availability of research material: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.

(b)Time: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.

(c)Finance: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover.

1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Public

In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science, psychology, marketing, and advertising. In public relations and communication science, it is one of the more ambiguous concepts in the field. Although it has definitions in the theory of the field that have been formulated from the early 20th century onwards, it has suffered in more recent years from being blurred, as a result of conflation of the idea of a public with the notions of audience, market segment, community, constituency, and stakeholder.

Perception

 Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment.

Profession

A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain

Accounting

Accounting is the systematic and comprehensive recording of financial transactions pertaining to a business, and it also refers to the process of summarizing, analyzing and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies and tax collection entities.

• ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion and also recommendations made of the study.

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