Deregulation of professional accounting services in the United Kingdom: integrating marketing and accounting

Abstract

Spurred by deregulation, the needs of professional service firms have changed dramatically over the past few decades. These changing needs have led to the use of business concepts previously avoided by such firms. As previously regulated industries have become more competitive, professional service firms have begun to rely upon services marketing concepts to maintain and/or strengthen their position in a widely expanding competitive arena. This paper focuses upon the use of the traditional marketing concepts of pricing and promotion in the accounting profession. Historically, customer-oriented pricing and promotion concepts, as understood by marketers, have been avoided by professional accounting services. Accounting firms tend to view their markets from a production viewpoint rather than the customer's viewpoint. That is, the accounting firm's price has historically been based on the cost of the service, with promotion basically avoided. This research examines the pricing and promotional strategies of Tier 1 accounting firms in the UK immediately preceding the 1984 deregulation.