IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v59y2023i3p847-871.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Could Accounting Have Saved Itself from the Antitrust Laws?Revisiting the Antitrust Investigations into the US Accounting Profession 1966–1990

Author

Listed:
  • Michael E. Doron

Abstract

While the role of lobbying in the US public accounting profession has been the subject of several studies, what has not been addressed is the profession's historic reluctance to lobby and the impact this may have had on the profession. This paper provides a case study of public accounting's interaction with government and the need for the profession to articulate the impact of government policies on the practice of accounting. It reviews and assesses the antitrust investigations by the US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission that led to the repeal of the profession's anticompetitive ethics rules, rules that had governed American public accounting for most of the 20th century. These investigations are often blamed for an increased competitive atmosphere in public accounting that prioritized growth and profitability over quality in attest services. Using records obtained from Freedom of Information Act requests and archival sources, I attempt to reconstruct the US Government's motivations and the efforts of the American Institute of CPAs. I find a troubling lack of understanding of the audit profession by executive branch regulators and Congress and a reticence by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to advocate for the profession that led to what many observers see as a profound misapplication of the antitrust laws. While this study deals only with the US, similar regulatory changes took place in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael E. Doron, 2023. "Could Accounting Have Saved Itself from the Antitrust Laws?Revisiting the Antitrust Investigations into the US Accounting Profession 1966–1990," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(3), pages 847-871, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:59:y:2023:i:3:p:847-871
    DOI: 10.1111/abac.12284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/abac.12284
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/abac.12284?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bougette, Patrice & Deschamps, Marc & Marty, Frédéric, 2015. "When Economics Met Antitrust: The Second Chicago School and the Economization of Antitrust Law," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 313-353, June.
    2. repec:eme:maj000:02686900710718681 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Figueiredo John M. de, 2002. "Lobbying and Information in Politics," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-6, August.
    4. Kevin P. McMeeking, 2007. "Competition in the UK accounting services market," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 197-217, January.
    5. Hackenbrack, K & Jensen, KL & Payne, JL, 2000. "The effect of a bidding restriction on the audit services market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 355-374.
    6. Randolph Sloof, 2000. "Interest Group Lobbying and the Delegation of Policy Authority," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 247-274, November.
    7. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-12-2015-2341 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Kevin P. McMeeking, 2007. "Competition in the UK accounting services market," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 22(2), pages 197-217, January.
    9. Hay, David & Knechel, W. Robert, 2010. "The effects of advertising and solicitation on audit fees," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 60-81, January.
    10. Jelinek, Kate, 2018. "Will and Caroline: Accounting, professional integrity and lobbying," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 76-88.
    11. Roberts, Robin W. & Dwyer, Peggy D. & Sweeney, John T., 2003. "Political strategies used by the US public accounting profession during auditor liability reform: The case of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 433-457.
    12. de Figueiredo, John M., 2002. "Lobbying and Information in Politics," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 125-129, August.
    13. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1op860fg2l8f4p3acvk2hj0tmn is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Patrice Bougette & Marc Deschamps & Frédéric Marty, 2015. "When Economics Met Antitrust: The Second Chicago School and the Economization of Antitrust Law," Post-Print halshs-01090048, HAL.
    15. Vishal P. Baloria, 2017. "Discussion of “An Examination of the U.S. Public Accounting Profession’s Public Interest Discourse and Actions in Federal Policy Making”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 221-224, May.
    16. Roland Königsgruber, 2013. "Expertise-based lobbying and accounting regulation," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(4), pages 1009-1025, November.
    17. Thornburg, Steven & Roberts, Robin W., 2008. "Money, politics, and the regulation of public accounting services: Evidence from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 229-248.
    18. Iain Clacher & Alan Duboisée de Ricquebourg & Amy May, 2019. "Who gets all the PIE? Regulation of the statutory audit for private UK companies," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(5), pages 1297-1324, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Norbert Walter & Steffen Kern, 2011. "Politikberatung im EU-Finanzbinnenmarkt: vom Lamfalussy-Prozess zur europäischen Aufsicht," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 80(1), pages 91-105.
    2. Thornburg, Steven & Roberts, Robin W., 2008. "Money, politics, and the regulation of public accounting services: Evidence from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 229-248.
    3. Roland Königsgruber, 2013. "Expertise-based lobbying and accounting regulation," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(4), pages 1009-1025, November.
    4. John M. de Figueiredo & Brian Kelleher Richter, 2013. "Advancing the Empirical Research on Lobbying," NBER Working Papers 19698, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hadani, Michael, 2012. "Institutional ownership monitoring and corporate political activity: Governance implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 944-950.
    6. Charles H. Cho & Matias Laine & Robin W. Roberts & Michelle Rodrigue, 2018. "The Frontstage and Backstage of Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Evidence from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Bill," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 865-886, October.
    7. Patrice Bougette & Oliver Budzinski & Frédéric Marty, 2019. "Exploitative Abuse and Abuse of Economic Dependence: What Can We Learn From an Industrial Organization Approach?," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 129(2), pages 261-286.
    8. Thierry Kirat & Frédéric Marty, 2020. "From the First World War to the National Recovery Administration (1917-1935) - The Case for Regulated Competition in the United States during the Interwar Period," Working Papers halshs-03052417, HAL.
    9. Joseph A. McCAHERY & Erik P.M. VERMEULEN & HISATAKE Masato & SAITO Jun, 2007. "Traditional and Innovative Approaches to Legal Reform: 'The New Company Law'," Discussion papers 07033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    10. Frédéric Marty, 2020. "Is the Consumer Welfare Obsolete? A European Union Competition Law Perspective," GREDEG Working Papers 2020-13, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    11. Thierry Kirat & Frédéric Marty, 2021. "The late emerging consensus among American economists on antitrust laws in the 2nd New Deal (1935-1941)," Post-Print halshs-03261721, HAL.
    12. Thierry Kirat & Frédéric Marty, 2021. "How Law and Economics Was Marketed in a Hostile World: the institutionalization of the field in the United States from the immediate post-war period to the Reagan years," Working Papers halshs-03124774, HAL.
    13. Jean-Etienne de Bettignies & David T. Robinson, 2018. "When Is Social Responsibility Socially Desirable?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1023-1072.
    14. Lisa Baudot & Robin W. Roberts & Dana M. Wallace, 2017. "An Examination of the U.S. Public Accounting Profession’s Public Interest Discourse and Actions in Federal Policy Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 203-220, May.
    15. Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Rajwani, Tazeeb & Lawton, Thomas C., 2020. "Information and nonmarket strategy: Conceptualizing the interrelationship between big data and corporate political activity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    16. Jelinek, Kate, 2018. "Will and Caroline: Accounting, professional integrity and lobbying," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 76-88.
    17. Frédéric Marty, 2020. "Protecting the competitive process, not a competitive structure Reflections on the book by Nicolas Petit Big Tech and the Digital Economy," Working Papers halshs-03034024, HAL.
    18. Omer Gokcekus & Sertac Sonan, 2017. "Political contributions and corruption in the United States," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 360-372, October.
    19. Zhifeng Yang, 2013. "Do Political Connections Add Value to Audit Firms? Evidence from IPO Audits in China," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 891-921, September.
    20. David Cayla, 2022. "How the Digital Economy Challenges the Neoliberal Agenda: Lessons from the Antitrust Policies," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 546-553, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:59:y:2023:i:3:p:847-871. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.