Regulation,the public interest and the establishment of an accounting supervisory body |
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Authors: | Philip O’Regan |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland |
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Abstract: | The accounting/auditing profession in Ireland has maintained a form of self-regulation since the era of professional formation
in the late-nineteenth century. In general, the view taken was that the public interest was best served by allowing the profession
to monitor and regulate its own members. This reflected a general confidence in the workings of the market, with regulation
being considered necessary only to address specific shortcomings. In recent years, a combination of factors ranging from corporate
collapses in which the independence of the auditing profession was questioned, to a variety of political pressures arising
from globalisation and the exigencies of international financial markets, have created an environment in which increased state
involvement has been seen as critical to securing the public interest. In Ireland, these international developments conjoined
with political and media disquiet at revelations regarding the conduct of prominent accountants and auditing firms to create
an environment in which modifications to this regime could be considered. The result was a state initiative to introduce an
independent authority, the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, to regulate the profession. Using public interest
theories as the dominant paradigm, this paper investigates this development. |
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