The emergence of the US accounting profession 1880-1900 : a new institutionalism perspective

• Main Author: McMillan, Keith Patrick
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1997
• Subjects: 900; History
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.389978

l'his dissertation explores the emergence of the U.S. accounting profession, from 1880 to 1900. This historical study of the professionalization of U.S. accountants investigates the institutional environment out of which the profession emerged. The organizational and sociological perspectives of New Institutionalism provide a methodological basis to study the institutional environment. Six chapters demonstrate the existence of six rational institutional myths, which provided an institutional structure for the U.S. accountants prior to the passage of the first C.P.A. law in 1896. The six social ideals are: the science of accounts, the community of the competent, efficient accounting systems, theoretical education, the gentleman professional, and the audit-auditor relationship. Another chapter investigates the manner in which each of these six institutional myths contributed to the passage of that first law and how they contributed to the institutional structures for the new C.P.A. certification. Included in this study is a cross-cultural perspective. The importation of British institutional perspectives into a significantly different institutional and cultural environment is explored. The major historical archives used were the contemporary professional journals in New York City and London. These reveal the professional discourse, in which the rational institutional myths may be perceived through their being used to legitimize the profession.