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Amanda Sonnerfeldt. Photo

Amanda Sonnerfeldt

Senior lecturer, Assistant head Accounting and Corporate Finance, Department of Business Administration

Amanda Sonnerfeldt. Photo

The strategic significance of the CICPA in the making of a Chinese home-grown public accounting profession

Author

  • Wenjun Wen
  • Christopher Humphrey
  • Amanda Sonnerfeldt

Summary, in English

This paper provides a detailed, longitudinal study of the role and strategies of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) in building a Chinese home-grown public accounting profession since the late 1980s. Drawing on previously unaccessed archive materials and a series of interviews with senior representatives of the Chinese public accounting profession, this paper reveals a more nuanced empirical story of professional accounting development in China, in which the CICPA has had more strategic influence than is currently represented in the extant accounting literature. While the CICPA’s position vis-à-vis the state is a fragile one and necessitates on various occasions following specific state requirements and instructions, it has still been able to pursue its strategic intention of securing a nationalistic approach to professional accounting development. This paper analyses the shifting nature of the CICPA’s capacity for agency across three thematic areas of activities, including the CICPA’s efforts to counter the power and influence of the Big Four in China, promote the growth of indigenous accounting firms and support the establishment of the Communist Party branches in accounting firms.

Department/s

  • Accounting and Corporate Finance

Publishing year

2021

Language

English

Pages

636-676

Publication/Series

Accounting and Business Research

Volume

51

Issue

6–7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Business Administration

Keywords

  • accounting professionalisation
  • national professional bodies
  • CICPA
  • big four
  • corporatism
  • China

Status

Published

Project

  • ‘Standards for assurance in a globalizing world’ funded by Ragnar Söderbergs Stiftelse completed 30/4/2017

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0001-4788