Accountancy before the fall: The AICPA vision project and related professional enterprises

This paper examines the AICPA Vision Project, understanding this both as a professional project aimed at repositioning the identity and practice of accountants, and as a window into the activities of professional bodies before recent financial scandals and regulatory reform. Archival and interview material is used to analyze the Vision Project and explicate its meaning and significance. The project is understood in terms of work by Giddens and Abbot concerning the development and repositioning of professional claims. The Vision Project may ultimately be seen as a failure, with professional bodies now distancing themselves from the Vision Project’s goals. Nonetheless, the project itself presents an opportunity to understand the mechanics by which professional bodies seek to expand the domain of practice, even if such exceeds the limits of their technical competency.