Punish or perish : how does the american accounting profession reinforce its legitimacy through sanction ?

In times of financial crisis, the credibility of the public in both financial statements and accounting professionals is shaken. This article aims at understanding how the American profession attempts to restore confidence in its role of "guardian of trust". More precisely, our study focuses on the role of the disciplinary process in the accounting profession's quest for legitimacy. Having been delegated a power of regulation along with a power of coercion, the accounting profession has the duty to defend the interest of the public, the clients and the profession. Our research studies data from the disciplinary proceedings from an American accounting professional organization. Using both a typology developed through the review of academic literature, and methodologies from research in criminology, we built a misconduct index. This index allowed us to study 401 disciplinary decisions by the New York State Office of the Profession from 1994 to 2011. Three propositions emerge from the empirical study, which help conclude that the accounting profession attempts to meet the expectations from its economic and financial environment in defending the public interest. The importance of the disciplinary mechanism in the quest for legitimacy is especially highlighted in times of financial scandals.