Abstract
Certified Public Accountants were not allowed to adver tise from 1922 to 1977. Even though the AICPA Code was changed in 1978, there has been continued discussion and disagreement among practitioners about whether account ants should advertise. A content analysis of 38 publica tions (over a six year period) from industry/trade, account ing, and general business was performed in order to deter mine where advertisements appeared, timing, frequency and to whom CPAs were advertising as well as the message content, components, and objectives of the advertisements. Of 812 advertisements, 71% were from Big Eight firms. The advertisements promoting services not requiring CPA certification and were found mostly in industry/trade publi cations. The number of advertisements increased through the years except for 1982. Advertising by CPA firms still appears to be conservative in numbers; however, the trend indicates that such advertising will increase in the future.
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