Transnational Regulation of Professional Services: Governance Dynamics of Field Level Organizational Change

Abstract

This paper examines the role of large accounting firms in the emergence of a transnational regulatory field in professional services. We use neo-institutional theory to illuminate the process by which new fields are created. We observe a shift in the structural boundaries of professional regulation to include new actors, specifically Big Four accounting firms and non-governmental organizations. We also observe a shift in regulatory logics in which historical efforts to separate professional practice from commercial interest are embraced rather than suppressed. New logics also include pressures to adopt new occupational identities. Finally we describe a shift in institutional power structures from coercive structures of domination to inclusive power structures of membership and identity.