The end of the disinterested profession: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the union corruption scandals,1957—62

Abstract

American accounting histories of the mid-twentieth century have long focused on the development of accounting standards. With the exception of the events surrounding the New Deal, there has been a reliance on memoirs and official histories for analysis of the accounting profession itself. The union corruption scandals and the accounting profession's efforts to involve itself in the reform of unions and pensions offers an opportunity to see how the profession understood and consolidated its franchise in financial statement audits and, perhaps more importantly, how it saw its own place in American society and how its place was viewed by others. This article focuses on the events that led to the passage of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin Act) of 1959, paying particular attention to congressional testimony and the records of congressmen and the Eisenhower administration and the efforts of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to influence the legislation.