Exploring the recent evolution of the accounting profession in Romania : an institutional approach

This paper mobilizes an institutionalism-based approach in order to discuss the factors influencing the recent evolution of the Romanian accounting profession and to advance a tentative prognosis. Using the case of Romania as context for the study, we illustrate how a national profession aligned to the main international requirements, but also remaining connected to local features in many cases. Using multiple sources to collect data, we discuss the main stages in the profession’s evolution (formation, proliferation, and consolidation), the inter- and intra-professional conflicts, and the pressures for change. I argue that national professional bodies should consider themselves in competition with the international ones, in order to result mimetic and normative isomorphism which would be of benefit for the local profession. Therefore, the paper contributes to the research on the global – local dialectic in the accounting profession and has implications for the literature on the accounting profession, but also for professional bodies and academia.