Professionalism in accounting

• Ano de defesa: 2015
• Autor(a) principal: Bulaon, Christopher
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Accounting; Case study; Contabilidade; Ensino superior; Estudo de caso; Higher education; Professionalism; Profissionalismo
• Link de acesso: http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12136/tde-18022016-114359/

According to the works of the French philosopher Émile Durkheim (1964), much of today\'s modern society is founded on the basic tenets of professionalization. Yet the significance of professionalism is often taken for granted and lost in ambiguity. The aim of this study is to thus identify and understand the perceptions of professionalism, with the context of the case being the accounting community at the University of Sao Paulo. A series of open-ended interviews were performed with ten participants with varying levels of academic and market work experience. The data was then coded and analyzed to look for categorical emerging themes and patterns among the responses. Findings indicate a highly diverse set of views regarding how professional status is attained and how professionalism is demonstrated. The close association between the results and existing professions literature signal a wider acceptance and societal internalization of professional principles. Professionalism in Accounting was found to be relative to a variety of factors including market work experience, professional characteristics, and career goals. Comparisons were also made between various professional environments including FEA vs. other colleges, Accounting vs. other fields and Brazil vs. other countries. These comparisons suggest an influence of environment on professional standards and the demonstration of professional behavior. Further research is needed to study how perceptions of professionalism may differ among other professional accounting groups and how the professional transformation process in accounting education may be improved to better prepare accounting graduates before entering the field.