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Secret professional deviance: the case of the independence rule

Claire-France Picard (École de Comptabilité, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada)
Cynthia Courtois (École de Comptabilité, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada)
Sylvain Durocher (Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada)
Angélique Malo (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 17 October 2024

57

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines how rank-and-file practitioners react to and negotiate uniformized professional standards imposed by the elites of their profession in order to embody their professional ideal.

Design/methodology/approach

We explore this topic through the specific case of the Canadian independence rule. We mobilize Freidson’s and Becker’s conceptual tools to make sense of our data, generated through 55 interviews with rank-and-file practitioners.

Findings

We found that most rank-and-file practitioners override the (spirit of the) independence rule and engage in a process of secret deviance to pursue their professional ideal of accompanying their client in their business. Specifically, our analysis underlines how they find pleasure in fulfilling their professional ideal, seek to protect the secrecy that allows them to pursue this ideal while avoiding sanctions, and convince themselves of the morality of breaking the (spirit of the) rule in order to embody their conception of professionalism.

Research limitations/implications

Our analysis expands fieldwork on rank-and-file practitioners by offering an analysis of struggles they experienced in their daily practice and by bringing to light their path to secret “professional” deviance.

Practical implications

Our study points to the necessity for better consideration of the realities of professional segments when developing rules or standards.

Originality/value

Our study develops a distinctive conceptual construct – the professionalism conception gap – to explain how secret “professional” deviance can unfold within a profession. This construct could be mobilized to further understand the divergences that can exist within broader professional spheres.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the practitioners who agreed to be interviewed and provided us with important insights into their experiences. We benefited from the insightful comments of two anonymous reviewers. We also appreciate the comments of participants in the Qualitative Methods Symposium on Auditing, Governance, and Professionalism in Context at the 2023 Canadian Academic Accounting Association Conference. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Citation

Picard, C.-F., Courtois, C., Durocher, S. and Malo, A. (2024), "Secret professional deviance: the case of the independence rule", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2022-6091

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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