THE MANAGEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL, ENTERPRISES AND REGULATORY CHANGE - BRITISH ACCOUNTANCY AND THE FINANCIAL SERVICES ACT, 1986

The paper analyses the changing nature of professionalism through a st udy of the effects of a change in the regulatory context of the U.K ac counting profession. The emphasis is on how accountancy, as a professi onal project, is managed. Professions are viewed as institutions whose direction and management is influenced by movements within and betwee n a range of constituencies and practices. We focus on confluences of actions and ideas from a variety of constituencies, including accounta nts, with management of the profession being achieved through the inte rplay and negotiations between diverse groups. The specificity of the interplay leads to a heightened awareness of the mutability of contemp oraneous professional arrangements, and emphasises their malleability. It offers insight into the apparently adventitious development of acc ountancy in modem society. Although we present management as a means t o capture more general changes in the practices and frameworks of prof essions, rather than just regulatory change, our argument is developed around the Financial Services Act (1986). That legislation was ostens ibly intended to regulate the conduct of investment business in Britai n. Accountants became involved in legislation that at first seemed, at best, to be on the periphery of their practice. The implementation of the Act involved pro-active monitoring of members and firms. Inspecto rs, acting as the agents of professional bodies, were able to enter me mber's practices to confirm that accountants were able adequately to c onduct business that, prior to the Act, they had been held to be ''fit and proper'' to conduct, by virtue of their professional affiliation. This in itself may be seen as a significant expansion of professional Institutes' regulatory roles, especially since this monitoring was un dertaken on behalf of government. The expansion of the regulatory role of the Institute resulted from a confluence of, inter alia, governmen t objectives and platforms, the range of modem professional practice a nd concomitant difficulties of professional governance. The result is a re-moulding of the professional. We use these developments to illust rate how professions may be thought of in terms of management and how professions change.