An empirical examination of the public perception of multidisciplinary practices in the United States.

摘要

Although many variations of multidisciplinary practices (MDPs) have been accepted internationally, MDPs are still prohibited in the U.S. Within the U.S., the accounting profession claims that clients are driving the demand for MDPs while the legal profession asserts that the accounting profession is driving the demand for MDPs. Despite calls from both professions for research on MDPs, little work has been conducted.; The present study answers the calls for research on MDPs in the U.S., and it also examines the areas of professional affiliation bias, company size bias, vulnerability to competition, and public perception of CPAs and attorneys. Eleven hypotheses were proposed and statistically tested. The 3,000 participants were statistically sampled from CFOs and/or general counsels of companies traded on the NYSE or the NASDAQ.; The results of this study support the assertion that clients demand and are comfortable using the services of MDPs. However, clients indicated that CPA firms should expand their service offerings to include more traditionally “legal” services (i.e., become MDPs). Conversely, clients desired law firms to remain relatively unchanged. Thus, the accounting profession perceives a direct client demand for MDPs while the legal profession perceives only an indirect demand for MDPs via the accounting profession.; This study also provides support for a professional affiliation bias among both CPAs and attorneys. This bias is much stronger in attorneys than in CPAs. Bias was displayed even with regard to “traditional” accounting and legal services. The results of this study indicate that company size does not influence the choice of service provider. Also, CPA firms would be more vulnerable to competition from MDPs than would law firms. Finally, CPA firms and law firms were evaluated with respect to six professional characteristics (i.e., knowledge and expertise, advocacy, fees, value, ethics, and trust). With the exception of advocacy, the accounting and legal professions are perceived similarly with regard to these characteristics.; Meeting clients' needs will certainly require interprofessional cooperation, trust, and respect. As efforts are made to provide the services most valuable to clients, efforts should also be made to provide a win-win situation for the professionals who provide such services.