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Attracting Prospective Professional Accountants Before and After the CPA Merger in Canada

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  • François Brouard
  • Merridee Bujaki
  • Sylvain Durocher

Abstract

As part of the unification of the Canadian accounting profession, a lot of effort has been devoted to organizational structures and systems. In these times of change, recruitment of prospective professional accountants remains an important factor for the Canadian and international development of the profession. In this paper, we explore professional accountants’ recruitment by accounting associations in Ontario before (CA, CGA, CMA) and after (CPA) the merger of the three professional accounting associations. We use a legitimacy framework to make sense of the recruitment website content of each association. We find, in the post‐merger period, that the CPA profession adopts a more passive approach to legitimacy management, focusing mainly on exchange aspects of legitimacy, whereas prior to the merger a wider range of legitimacy management strategies were deployed by the predecessor associations. Important implications ensuing from our study are discussed. Recrutement des comptables professionnels avant et après l'unification CPA au Canada Résumé Dans le cadre de l'unification de la profession comptable, de nombreux efforts ont été consacrés aux structures et aux systèmes organisationnels. En cette période de changements, le recrutement des comptables professionnels potentiels représente un facteur important pour l'essor de la profession, tant au Canada que sur la scène internationale. Les auteurs examinent le recrutement des comptables professionnels par les associations comptables en Ontario avant (CA, CGA, CMA) et après (CPA) la fusion des trois associations comptables professionnelles. Un cadre de la légitimité est utilisé pour interpréter le contenu des pages de recrutement des sites web de chaque association. Les résultats indiquent que la profession comptable, durant la période postérieure à l'unification (CPA), adopte une approche davantage passive dans la gestion de la légitimité, en mettant l'accent sur la légitimité d’échange, alors que, durant la période antérieure à la fusion, un plus grand nombre de stratégies de gestion de la légitimité étaient utilisées par les associations prédécesseures. Les principales retombées de l'étude sont analysées.

Suggested Citation

  • François Brouard & Merridee Bujaki & Sylvain Durocher, 2017. "Attracting Prospective Professional Accountants Before and After the CPA Merger in Canada," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 105-127, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:accper:v:16:y:2017:i:2:p:105-127
    DOI: 10.1111/1911-3838.12138
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    2. Daoust, Laurence, 2020. "Playing the Big Four recruitment game: The tension between illusio and reflexivity," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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