| The public accounting profession has "come under fire" with adverse attention focused on its lack of independence, sloppy audit practices, and clients receiving "clean" (i.e., unqualified) audit opinions on their financial statements just before declaring bankruptcy.; The field of public accounting within the United States consists of practicing CPAs numbering in the tens of thousands and ranging from sole practitioners to partners within the largest international accounting firms. Controversy continues as to whether they should all be viewed as accountable for the current criticism. Some CPAs began voicing the opinion that the "Big 5" firms, with their greed for consulting dollars, were tainting the profession as a whole. Some even espoused that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) had intentionally "turned a blind eye" to the violations of the Big 5 firms.; One hundred twenty-one CPAs responded to a survey that presented 25 statements concerning the current state of the accounting profession. The survey sought opinions and perceptions concerning how ethical the profession is today, public attitude toward the profession, who was to blame for the negative public image if it existed, how well is the AICPA representing the accounting profession and finally, the participants' opinions on mandated ethics.; The results of this descriptive study revealed that CPAs believe the profession is less ethical today and that greed for consulting work by the big accounting firms has hurt the profession and generated negative public attitude toward the profession. The participants did not think the AICPA was representing the entire profession as a whole and lastly, they saw ethics training as necessary and not a burden on small CPA firms.; Several charts and tables are offered that identify the results of the study along with recommendations for future research in this area. |
