2025 Theses Doctoral

Accounting Rules and Accountants

Le, Anthony

I explore the role that accounting rules, in particular the restrictiveness of GAAP, have played in the declining number of accountants. I find that when exposure to restrictiveness is high, there are fewer students majoring in accounting, fewer CPA exam candidates, and fewer accountants and auditors overall.

The overall number of accounting positions that firms recruit for does not decrease when exposure to restrictiveness is higher – however, the nature of accountants’ work changes. There is less focus on tasks such as applying judgment, thinking creatively, and thinking critically and more focus on determining compliance. Despite the decrease in accountants, earnings for accountants do not increase, and the wage distribution becomes more compressed.

I supplement these analyses with a survey-based field experiment. Consistent with the archival results, the salience of restrictiveness deters students from entering the profession due to their inability to use creative and critical thinking. Overall, the findings suggest that restrictive regulation can shift the task content of occupations and reduce the pool of individuals interested in the profession.