THE ACCOUNTING SERVICES MARKET THEORY AND EVIDENCE英文文献.pdfVIP

THE ACCOUNTING SERVICES MARKET: THEORY AND EVIDENCE G.D. Pound and J.R. Francis* Introduction A situation facing the accounting profession today is increasing attention and criticism from sources both intemal and extemai to the profession. These critic- isms have been basically concerned with problems said to have originated in the professions structure and activities, and have been most prominent in tiie United States. Concem has been expressed about the pricing of services, types and quality of services and the general market structure. This paper examines the accounting services market in Australia and yields the following key propositions:. 1. The accounting services market includes both auditing and other services. 2. The accounting services market exhibits characteristics of an oligopoly. 3. There is scope for price competition in the accounting services market, altiiough it appears to be restricted. The market exhibits features of a mature oligopoly with the emphasis on non-price competition. 4 . Social inefficiencies may result from the prices for accounting services being too high, and from wasteful product differentiation. The Market for Accounting Services Much of the criticism of the accounting profession originates from inquiries by the United States Congress (1977) and tiie AICPA (1978) . Both reports were critical of the structure of the United States accounting profession and the detrimental impact this has on the activities and performance ofthe profession. While relatively little is knovra about the structure ofthe accounting profession in Australia, the research that h