Canada's accounting elite: 1880-1930

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 16, No. 1 June 1989
Alan J. Richardson QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY
CANADA'S ACCOUNTING ELITE: 1880-1930
Abstract: This paper provides an analysis of "elite" accounting practitioners during the formative years of the Canadian account-ing profession (1880-1930). The social characteristics of this group in comparison with the Canadian population and the links between the accounting elite and other elite groups in society are used to evaluate the extent to which the profession achieved democratic ideals of access and social mobility for all members of society. The operation of the accounting profession as a democratic institution is argued to be an important aspect of the profession's claim to serve the public interest.
The professions have earned a place of privilege in western societies. They have gained legislative recognition, and often protection, of their occupational domains from the state. They also have been given rights of self-government within a nar-rowly defined sphere in recognition of the difficulties experi-enced by laymen in evaluating the quality of professional practice. The powers exercised by the professions have lead observers such as Gilb [1966, 1981] to characterize them as "private interest governments." In the same way that public governments act to translate a society's values (or sub-set of those values) into law and an authoritative allocation of re-sources, the professions act to create and enforce laws (eg. licensing and ethics), to impose taxes (eg. professional dues) and to provide access to market opportunities (eg. areas of restricted practice) and positions of political power (eg. executive posi-tions in professional associations). The privileges granted to the professions by society carry a responsibility, meeting this re-sponsibility justifies the continuation of those privileges.
The professions' place in society is justified by claims that they serve the public interest. Within liberal democracies the
This work has been supported by grants from the D.I. McLeod Fund, the Advisory Research Committee and Principal's Development Fund, Queen's University. The research assistance of Kathy Klaas and Lynn MacDonald on this project is gratefully acknowledged. The paper has benefited from the construc-tive criticism of Tony Dimnik, Norm Macintosh, Dean Neu and the Journal's reviewers.