Interprofessional tax altercation

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 11, No. 1 Spring 1984
William S. Hopwood DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR ACCOUNTING RESEARCH FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
and
Karen S. Hreha UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TAX ALTERCATION
Abstract: The paper presents an historical summary of the major issues and events which led to the development of the practice of taxation by accountants in the United States. This development was marked by tremendous conflict between the legal and accounting professions.
The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical summary of the major issues involved in the dispute between lawyers and ac-countants for the right to practice tax in the United States. Determi-nation of the major issues is based upon evidence gathered from the Journal of Accountancy and the American Bar Association Journal. These journals are the primary publications which repre-sent the thought of the two professions. By examining the bibliog-raphy, one can see that most of the documentation for this paper has been taken from the Journal of Accountancy. The reason for this is that the American Bar Association Journal published much less on the subject. The volume of articles appearing in the Journal of Accountancy reflects the tremendous concern and importance which the accounting profession attached to the dispute.
Published facts of the two journals may not be entirely represen-tative of both sides of the conflict. However, the object of this paper is to highlight the major events and issues that had a significant effect on the outcome of the dispute between the professions.
The Journal of Accountancy was an official publication of the American Institute of Accountants (AIA), now known as the Ameri-can Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Please note that where the position of the AIA is stated in this essay, such position may not have been an official one. This can be distinguished by ex-amining the footnote to determine whether it is merely an editorial.