Rationalisation, charisma and accounting professionalisation: perspectives on the intra-professional conflict in Greece, 1993–2001

Abstract

During the 1990s Greek auditors and branches of international accounting firms in Greece fought a veritable professional war over the jurisdiction of statutory auditing. This intra-professional conflict developed against a backdrop of profound changes in the socio-economic and political fabric of the country, along pro-liberal, free market lines. This paper looks at a particular episode of that conflict––an attempt by the indigenous auditors to regain the monopoly of practice they lost, following the `liberalisation' of the Greek auditing profession in 1992. The paper argues that Max Weber's theoretical work on history and social development can be applied in helping to understand complex processes of contemporary change in the accounting profession. The analysis of this case study posits that rationalisation and charisma play a major role in helping to effect historical change through their influence on class–status–party, the tripartite stratificatory structure of modern society. In these encounters, multifarious social, economic and political actors with overlapping or differing interests interact with one another. The end result is that historical development is read as a fluid process whose outcome appears uncertain, although certain trends may be discernible in the particular historical juncture examined in this case study.