Competence Constructed as a Lack: Lacanian Take on Being Professional

Dr Katarzyna Kosmala
Reader in HRM
Business School
University of the West of Scotland

Abstract

A construct of competence, one of the key enduring principles in the realms of being
professional, remains under-theorised in organisational literature despite its
importance for professional work. The aim of this study is to reflect on current views
with regard to what constitutes professional competence, illustrated in the context of
assurance services, and on that basis and drawing on psychoanalytical lens, in
particular Jacques Lacans framework of the analysts discourse, to theorize
construction processes of competence with insights into its social production and
maintenance.

Lacans theorisation of the subject has been recently adopted in organisational

studies. This paper addresses the imaginary realms of organisational discourse
illustrated in commodification processes of professional competence, drawing on
Lacanian notion of lobject petit a (Lacan, 2006) and its reinterpretations by Zizek
(1997/2006).

The study, interpretive in nature, draws on the interviews with managers, recruiters
and trainers from the professional services (assurance) firms (hereafter PSFs) and
professional bodies in the UK. Construction processes of competence, and in
particular, its ethical dimension through norms and behavioural requirements in the
context of clients services, commercialisation and specialisation of service delivery
are examined.

What emerge from the study are insights that the construct of competence is realised
as a lack; a commodified package of professional and personal attributes. It
appears that ethical competence in particular, facilitates the processes of managing
expertise dimension of the professional self, ensuring the professional conduct of
work, as it seem to operationalise ethical thoughts into ethical actions, especially in
the context of competing discourses of an increasing commercialisation, a client
focus and the public service. The ethical dimension of competence, as a lost object

1
of desire, becomes a means of justifying a lack in a sense of being professional and
credibility over professional knowledge base.

Key words: competence, identity, ethics, desire, lack, psychoanalysis,

commercialisation, PSFs.

2
Introduction
In considering work of the PSFs, delineations of competence, one of the key identity
categories, keep evolving in a response to shifting fashions in professional
regulations and organisational cultures that reflect changes in practice. Management
and organisational literature emphasises that professionals act in the ways which
define them as professionals, substantially through their identity work, behaviour and
the marketability of their cognitive resources in defending their professional
jurisdiction, and less so through their competent conduct (e.g. Alvesson and Willmot,
2002; Macdonald, 1995). Professional work in the context of assurance services is
atypical, as it has a more traditional service claim to the common good (public
interest), and simultaneously, service to the client. Professional sense of the self,
through competent conduct and expertise in such a context has been amalgamated
with impression management (Brint, 1994, p. 15), linking assurance service with the
realms of consultancy.

Assurance is envisaged as professional service industry that substantially relies on

commodification of its expertise in a response to the market trends. It is a system that
reinvents itself by conceptualisation of expertise in different guises, as an
instrumental reason, technological advancement, public service and amalgamation of
them all. Professionals learn on the job to attach importance to giving good
impressions of being an expert and to demonstrate, via enacted professional identity
and more symbolically, via constructs, that their social skills are directed at
impressing their clients (Kosmala and Herrbach 2006; Anderson-Gough et al. 2000).
The economic excess seems to drive these self-reinventions, supported by the
excess of power, as the legitimate power of the profession over its expertise.

Leung (2005) intimated that the current environment of competition and drive for
performance poses more ethical threats and dilemmas associated with the
reconciliation of conflicting roles of commercial service providers and contracted
regulators of financial reporting (p 21). Perhaps what seems more threatening in a
construction of identity is anxiety-driven quest for an expert image in the context of
professionalism that has lost credibility and reputation in the post-Enron reality. This
loss has extended the perceived lack of independence in the context of assurance
services and an overall mistrust that has created a lack in a sense of being
professional.

3
The aim of this study is to reflect on current views with regard to what constitutes
competence, illustrated in the context of assurance services, and on that basis and
drawing on psychoanalytical lens, in particular Jacques Lacans framework of the
analysts discourse, to theorize construction processes of competence with insights
into its social production and maintenance.

Lacans theorisation of the subject has been recently adopted in organisational

studies (e.g. Harding, 2007; Roberts, 2005; Jones and Spicer, 2005; Arnaud, 2002)
yet, the imaginary realm of the organisational discourse and its role in the imaginary
foundation of social reality at the work context have not received much attention.
Imaginary identification is a process of identifying with the image in which one
appears acceptable and respectable to the self and to others (Zizek, 1989), covering
a lack of such sense. Roberts (2005) pointed out that the power of the imaginary lies
in the power of recognition and can act as a lure in identification with a normative
ideal or ethics, as a discursive effect.

This paper addresses the imaginary realms of organisational discourse, illustrated in

the context of commodification processes of professional competence in assurance
services, drawing on Lacanian notion of lobject petit a (Lacan, 2006) and its
reinterpretations by Zizek (1997/2006).

Zizek help us to understand the usefulness of Lacanian theory for a critique of

contemporary capitalism. Lacan can provide lens for problematisation of the
faultiness in the Big Other, represented by dominant ideology of late capitalism, by
emphasising the importance of fantasy in identification processes at various levels,
including discourse, as being correlative to the inconsistencies of the symbolic order.
The Big Other, is therefore operating via the symbolic order, and although efficiently
operating, it lacks the ultimate signifier.

Zizek (2005; 1992; 1989) points out in Lacanian theory the powerful symbiosis in a
notion of lack; that is, the subject is perceived as a lacking agent and also the
symbolic order itself is conceptualised as lacking. The symbolic order is represented
in a language. In the assurance realms, the symbolic order is reflected in the
professional discourse and its knowledge base. Since the symbolic order itself is
lacking, the agent can cover up its own lack (of expertise) through the Big Others
lack. The Big Other is structured around the impossible, around a central lack (Zizek,
1989, pp. 122-123) with no access to the realm of the Real. In that sense, the agent

4
can become someone to others and to reclaim its presence as an expert. Imaginary
identification via discourse reflects an image of professional self, the credible image
of an expert, representing what one would like to be and symbolise its meaning to the
clients. By covering the lack of essence in a sense of being professional, the subject
can re-become an expert.

The study contributes to theorisation of one of identity dimensions, competence in

the assurance milieu, drawing on psychoanalytic theory, Jacques Lacan in particular.
The study also contributes empirical insights with regard to the construction of
professional competence in the assurance services context and discusses the
perceived relevance of ethics for the construction of competence in the context of
clients services, in particular its market ethos vs public value.

The remainder proceeds as follows. First, Lacanian theorisation of a lack is

introduced, drawing on his framework for the analysts discourse. Second, the
construction processes for what constitute an expert conduct are discussed reflecting
upon the current views and regulatory developments within the assurance context.
Third, research methods are delineated. Fourth, the insights from the interviews and
professional texts into the views of and requirements placed upon the assurance
providers in PSFs today with regard to competence and ethics, and subsequently a
competent conduct in managing identity are discussed. Lastly, discussion and
conclusions are presented with regard to the construction of competence, including
its ethical dimension and its relevance for identity work in the context of the client
service, commercialisation and specialisation of service delivery.

What emerges from the study are insights that a notion of competence is realised as
a lack, a package of the professional and personal attributes and the interrelated
elements, in which ethics appears to plays a significant, supporting role symbolically.
The instrumental integration of ethics can act as a defence against the challenges to
the self identity of the expert in the evolving assurance context. The package forms
a basis of the framework for the professional conduct for the service class of experts
in the assurance milieu.

Lacans lens and the notion of a lack

The use of Lacanian psychoanalytical thinking forms a lens that contributes to
challenging the formal rationality of organisational discourse. Lacanian theory of
discourse incorporates four discourses: the master, the university, the hysteric and

5
the analyst. These four discourses constitute the possible types of social bonding
and possible articulations of the networks that are responsible for regulating inter-
subjective relations. The matrix of the four discourses forms a matrix of the possible
positions in the communication network. We are situated here within the field of
communication qua meaning (Zizek, 1992, p. 131). Communication is structured like
a paradoxical circle, as what circles between the subjects in symbolic communication
is the lack, absence itself, and it is this absence that can open up space for positive
meanings to constitute itself.

The analysts discourse gives a particular attention to the imaginary realm. Lacans
framework of the analysts discourse, as other three, introduces the following key
realms: the imaginary, the symbolic and the real, and is concerned with the subjects
desires and motives as well as the rapports to the objects via relational practice
(Lacan, 2006/1991; 1977). The analyst occupies the place of the surplus object, and
from such a position is able to identify more directly with the discursive network. I
discuss these realms as means of contributing to theorisation of the subject in
relation to structures the subject is situated in, each representing a different, yet,
interrelated domain of existence that informs discursive processes of identification.
The subject here is envisaged as a social subject that acts, desires and fears in a
relation to the socio-symbolic order and a sense of identity it creates and recreates.

The dimension of the imaginary refers to registers of fantasy, desire and incorporates
pre-verbal structures, beyond the language. The imaginary incorporates the
processes of constitution through identification and images that are more or less real,
including fantasy structures. The dimension of the symbolic represents social
symbolic systems, including language through which the subject can be represented
and can represent own fears and desires. Hence, the symbolic domain incorporates
the constitution of the subject through language. The dimension of the real is a
dimension that is responsible for disruption and interruption of the functioning of the
language and its symbolisation. It refers to a domain outside the subject (Lacan,
1977) and outside the self-formation and symbolisation. These three domains, the
imaginary, the symbolic and the real, are incorporated into the framework.

The framework of the analysts discourse facilitates a theorisation of dynamics in

organisational discourse at the micro-level, here in the reference to a notion of
competence. The framework of the analysts discourse encompasses the following
interwoven elements: (1) S1 represents Master Signifier, (2) S/ represents loss, (3) a

6
represents lobject petit a, and (4) S2 represents the signifying other or the place
from which one speaks and identifies. See Figure 1.

Insert Figure 1 about here

The subjects symbolic identity is constructed in a relation to the socio-symbolic

order, represented by Big Other whilst the subjects imaginary identity, is gained in a
relation to the small other (a). The imaginary identification of the professional self
involves the processes in which one reflects upon the image what one would like to
be, and more implicitly, a sense of lack in identification via the symbolic order, being
situated at a distance from the Big Other (S1).

Zizek (2005) points out the limitations of the Big Other via its inconsistent nature that
appears structured around a lack and a constitutive failure. And these limitations
open up the possibility for the subject to find a niche in the Other, by identifying with
this very void in its midst, with the point at which the Other fails (p. 178). It is
therefore the object petit a that fills the gap in this void of the Big Other, where the
words and discursive practices fail.

In the assurance context, this perceived lack in identification and anxiety it creates
can be related a lost credibility in expertise; a lack of the expert and desire to
reinstate it, to fill this lack (S/).
Lobject petit a is linked to identification via reflexive act, in the opposition to the Big
Other, represented by Master Signifier. The symbolic order is reflected in the
language of the law; here in a discourse of professionalism. Lobject petit a is also
related to anxiety, reflecting a lack, a void (Lacan, 2006). As soon as lobject petit a is
elevated to the particular status, an expert, it starts to function as a kind of screen,
an empty space on which the subject projects the fantasies that support his desire, a
surplus of the real...the object small a is an empty form filled out by the fantasy
structure (Zizek, 1992, p. 133). Therefore the existence is here intertwined with
symbolization processes, and subsequent integration into the symbolic order.

In Zizeks re-reading of Lacans framework of the analysts discourse, lobject petit a,

can be envisaged as the revolutionary agent that can address the subject from the
position of knowledge that he/she occupies and what can be perceived as the place
of truth S2 (Zizek, 1997/2006) and conveyed as such. Zizek (2005) pointed out also
at Lacans nuanced conceptualisation of the object petit a:

7
We are dealing with the concept that comprises itself and its own opposite and/or
dissimulation. Object a is simultaneously the pure lack, the void around which the
desire turns and which, as such, causes the desire, and the imaginary element which
conceals this void and renders it invisible by filling it out. The point is that there is no
lack without the element of filling it out: the filler sustains what it dissimulates...a is a
bundle of properties that lacks existence (p. 178-179).

Expert knowledge, S2, in its different disguises facilitates the reconstruction of S1. S1
relates here to substance that is not constructed by the symbolic order but exists in
the real domain; beyond the professional discourse and codified knowledge, situated
outside of a signification process. In other words, a real expertise, S1, is formed as a
concept that doesnt make sense and cannot be questioned, pointing at the lack in
the symbolic order in the first place, a failure of the ideal. In the same time, the self-
mastery processes of the subject (a) and self-formation driven by desire to fill a lack
(of professional knowledge) and psychic accommodation temporarily 1. In the
assurance context, the professionals as active agents, as the service experts are
preoccupied with the perpetual reinstitution of the loss of credibility of its know-how
(S/), through reinventions of expertise discourse that seems to be now anchored in
the references to ethics.

The alleged altruism of ethical conduct has often been the basis of exaggerated
claims about ethical and subsequent progressive roles for PSFs, creating an expert
image. A recent shift in the professional literature towards the ethical dimension in the
professional conduct reflects a need for experts to reinvent themselves as ethically
competent. A shift in discourse seems to be driven by the processes of reclaiming
what has been lost in the realms of professional self, namely, the overall confidence
in the service expertise, in the firms know how capacity.

Claims of professional ethics and protecting the clients both serve the interests of the
profession. By claiming service to the common good, the assurance profession
dressed in a complex technical language, self-regulation and Codes of Ethics
becomes ethical by default of compliance practice (Griseri, 1998: 216). Such
practice has been intensified in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory compliance
ethics in both larger and smaller businesses in the assurance realms.

1
Zizek (2005) points out that the status of a is ontological, that is as a fantasy object
it has an empty form, a frame that can determine the status of positive entities (p.
179). And the realisation of this status helps to understand how the fantasy supports
the sense of reality.

8
Adopting the Lacans framework, becoming relates to the self-mastery of the subject
that can be exercised via socialisation, CPD and reflective processes of self-
formation (the expert image making).

Claims that professional skill and indeed expertise may be lost through over-reliance
on the rules-based compliance performance (Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 2005) in this
paper are more linked to the questions such as what constitutes real expertise.
What appears to be already lost in the professional realms is a belief in firms
capacities for competent conduct; exposing a lack of the expert. And this loss in
particular is addressed in the paper through dynamics that can be delineated in the
Lacans framework of the analysts discourse.

A Lack of the Expert

In PSFs, in the assurance sector, the move toward specialisation of service delivery,
a result of increased on-going commercialisation, associated being professional
(expert) with a capabilities for profit maximisation for the firm (Hanlon, 1994) and
tailored competence with an underlying objective of pleasing the clients. An expert
knowledge and monopolised expertise in the market enhances the status and points
at the opportunities for income generation. Ever more demanding clients, despite
their loss of credibility in the professional conduct and distrustful of the codified
product services, expect more of the value added from the experts (Brint, 1994).
The clients trust that is fundamental to the professionalization project has become
particularly fragile due to the perceived history of global scale failures (a post-Enron
effect) as well as ambiguous, intangible nature of the value added under the
provision of assurance services. Pleasing the clients has become the core in the
delivery, whereby performing the role of the expert and responding to clients
demands facilitate the processes aimed at alluring the clients with the provided
services and indulging them in responding with credibility to what they want.

The primary concern of the assurance services today is that of the sovereign
customer and organisational practices and technologies are increasingly structured
around staying close to the client (du Guy, 1996: 6) as well as rituals and constructs
that persuade the ways of competent execution of work in the post-Enron reality. So,
the professionals play the masters to themselves and to their clients in the domain of
the imaginary as active agents, via lobject petit a. These processes of producing and
consuming the image of an expert appear important in legitimizing the power of

9
profession and are linked to Macdonalds (1995) concept of the benign spiral. The
benign spiral points at the duality of monopoly in the market and the status in the
social order. The spiral encompasses interactions based dynamics between
economic success and respectability that operate both at the professional body level
as well as at the individual level. If assurance providers are perceived as competent,
they can gain respect and trust that subsequently attracts the business. On one
hand, these processes of producing the image via lobject petit a generate order
temporarily and result in the client-the firm interdependence and subsequent
bonding, on the other hand, these processes reveal how unstable and ambiguous the
competence frameworks and professional values may be.

Fuerman (2004) argued that social performance and its enactment is what
demonstrates competence. The aspect of appearance of professional identity
attributes is seen as a reinforcing factor in the aim of serving clients, by fitting in with
the clients aspirations and in that, a means demonstrating competence. Grey (1998)
argued that professionals are evaluated on ability and appearance, suggesting that
appearance forms a supporting factor in displaying ability and competence.

In the realms of the symbolic order, via professional discourse, the subjects build the
images of themselves as the possessors of unique competencies, requisite skills and
attributes, creating the illusions of professional conduct, by responding to the clients
and appearing to be taking care of clients individual needs (reflected in the discourse
of the analyst as S2). The professional bodies foster the development of new
standards of conduct, competence and training. Professional initiatives such as
Ethical Standards issued in UK (2004), the Common Content project (hereafter
CCP)2, IFAC International Educational Standards (IES) (2003/2004), CIMA and
ACCA programmes for international qualifications, all create new avenues for
expertise remaking; in managing identities emphasis is put on a need for specialised
knowledge, skills and attributes for the provision of business advisory services,
assurance services conveyed as a consultancy type of service.

As the consultant-type identification is partly about image management and the

power of persuasion (Clark and Fincham, 2002), the efforts in an image creation are
targeted at the demonstration of value to the clients and the clients instant
gratification. For instance, strategic self-presentation may display a set of
2
The CCP, an initiative which join the accounting institutes from six European countries of France,
Italy, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany and the UK. The project started in the beginning of new
millennium by identifying the knowledge required, stressing its value in the conduct of assurance work.

10
competencies dressed with personal characteristics (Ibarra, 1999). Claims of
professionalism can be conceptualised as resources that enhance credibility over
knowledge-base. The relationships with the clients, therefore, are defined in large by
a contingent market in expertise (Alvesson and Johansson, 2002).

A sense of the professional self in assurance seems determined in the strategic

terms, reflecting evolving discourse through educational and ethical standards; there
is not enough or too much of regulatory substance, an over-determination of
conduct through codification and still a sense of lack through selectivity in regulatory
framework, reflected in the lack of the symbolic order S1. Perhaps the more
uncertain set of methods that encompass expert knowledge and competent conduct
drive a need for more intensified, closer relationships with the clients.

The professional literature has recently identified the capabilities of professional

knowledge, skills and values, as well as ethics and personal attitudes as identity
attributes equally necessary for competent performance of assurance work in
professional services firms. (T)he possession of these capabilities gives a good
indication that an individual has the potential to perform competently in the work
place (IFAC 2003b: 74). In particular, there have been calls to give ethics extended
attention in the regulatory framework, in the light of the recent large-scale corporate
collapses (Leung 2005). New Ethical Standards have been issued in December 2004
(APB) as guidance for best ethical conduct. International Standard on Quality Control
no 1 issued in December 2004 (APB) and the new IFAC Code of Ethics (2005)
emphasise the professional need to have capabilities and competences necessary to
perform clients engagements in accordance with the professional standards and
legal requirements and summarises them in terms of appropriate experience,
knowledge and understanding, implying a lack in an expert formation.

It can be argued that sustenance of this image becomes paramount for the
assurance experts, especially in credibility building processes, creating the base for
the clients perceived belief in quality of the services provided, a building block for
trust to be re-established. Yet, shifting focus on what can be seen as professional
competence in an increasing commercialised context and the reality in which
professional firms adjust their discourse of success more in terms of their customer
preferences (Brint, 1994), and away from stewardship function and the public
interest, but yet, rely on the language of public interest, via ethics, clearly raise

11
concerns over instrumental use of the meaning of ethical dimensions of competence
in performing professional services.

Research methods
As the empirical reflections concerning professional competent conduct are based on
perceptions, in order to elicit these perceptions in the professional institutions and the
PSFs, interpretive turn has been adopted. Views and perceptions identified through
the interviews and professional literature act as comments, up-dating evolving nature
of professional competence and a sense of competent conduct. In particular, the
ways in which subjects interpret and react to memory, that is, reflect upon everyday
practice, and how they define key experiences in relation to the sense of being
successful and competent performance are of importance. A phenomenological
approach (also adopted by Anderson-Gough et al. 2002), facilitates passing on from
studying universals and essences to investigate the micro-level dynamics (Denzin
and Lincoln, 2003); attending to how the key category of professional identity, a
notion of competence, is constructed.

The insights from the interviews facilitated a closer look at the ambiguous
relationship between ethics and competence in construction of professional identity.
In particular, an adoption of the Lacanian framework facilitates reflections on more
nuanced aspects of identifying via expert image management. Data gathering
process included thirty semi-structured interviews conducted in 2005 and 2007 with
the professionals in the PSFs, working in assurance, involved in recruitment and
training and from HR departments, and in the professional bodies for assurance
services in the UK (Appendix 1). The interviews allowed expansion of the issues
covered in the CCP initiative and new regulation and facilitated a discussion on the
processes of competence construction, such as importance of ethics and
specialisation of services. Interviews were conducted across the UK and in the PSFs
ranging from big to smaller firms. The interview questions were split into five generic
sections: (1) definitions of competence; (2) appearance of competence for identity
and work; (3) processes of how to be competent, (4) general views on competence
and (5) obstacles and other issues hindering professional conduct of work. For a
generic interview schedule see Appendix 2.

In all cases, the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim for quotations.
The motivation was to elicit alternative constructions of what is perceived to be a
competent professional and to tap into an underlying system of meanings for a

12
construction of professional competence and competence itself. In that sense, the
approach adopted resulted in several significations for professional competence.

The data was codified in two ways: (1) into in vivo codes, that is, phrases found
directly in the interviews and (2) into in vitro codes, constructed from the material
(Strauss, 1987: 33). The coding paradigm encompassed the conditions and
consequences of professional competence construct; that is, a core category, the
central concept around each the others evolved, such as skill, knowledge, behavior
(peripheral codes). On that basis, the ways the peripheral categories relate to the
core category were identified (Alvesson and Skoldberg, 2000). The key themes of
construction of professional competence which emerged were further analyzed,
attending to the role and nature of ethical discourse in the competent conduct of work
(see Figure 2 for the categories). The coding process allowed for investigation of
links and relationships among components of professional competence and socially
constructed explanations, in particular competence-ethics relationship for realized
expertise and the potential issues of lack.

Current views and beliefs from the profession on what constitutes professional
competence have been mapped into the review of the current organisational
literature and professional regulatory requirements in order to provide a bigger
picture, including the current institutional issues.

Limitations of the study refer predominantly to data collection, in particular to a

geographical context and subsequently generalisability of the findings. Interviewees
were selected on the basis of professional contacts and via connections to other
academic projects. These were held across the UK. All recruiters and trainers
interviewed worked for the firms with clients operations spread throughout the UK.
Although the findings are related to those specific individuals interviewed in a specific
point of time in the UK, generalisability of the findings in the other contexts of PSFs is
more than plausible.

Current developments in professional competence in the context of assurance

work
The interviews reflected the language incorporated in the new regulatory
developments, the questions were asked how the interviewees perceive their roles in
the evolving reality of the service delivery and how they define the sense of being
professional and enact professional competence. In theorising what constitutes

13
competence in the assurance milieu, illustrated by assurance firms in the UK, the
insights will be of interest to those involved or interested in the professionalisation of
services and identity work of PSFs.

In defining what constitutes competent conduct of work, majority of interviewees

provided definitions of professional competence which emphasises an overall ability
to provide assurance services.

Technical ability was viewed as important, however not sufficient for realisation of
professional competence. In fact, interviewees pointed at professional competence
as encompassing technical, experience-based, non-technical professional skills.
Softer skills, personal attributes, personal management and leadership were pointed
out as more significant than ever before. Also, the interviewees pointed out the
importance of maintenance processes; that is, a state of being up-to-date with
current regulation and best practice in the processes of self maintenance (BGA1).
These views in relation to proactive agency reflect overall regulatory developments
and in day to day contacts with the clients and the public can contribute to what can
be seen as processes of mystification of knowledge base. Here is an example from
the interview which points at a wider remit of understanding of professional
competence that seems somewhat mystified by simultaneous focus on professional
and personal attributes:

Professional competence is a mix of the ability to be able to do things, and

having the knowledge to do those things, and having the professional, as well
as the softer skills to do it as well. It is more important now these softer skills
(PIB2).

Views expressed above, however, also reflect more traditional views on the
professions and emphasises that long training and experience that culminates in the
attainment of requisite skills and attributes; as an exclusive formation to the members
of the profession (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005: 616).

Professional regulation hints at an increasing remit of competent conduct. IFAC

(2003b: 75) advocated that professionals need to integrate diverse areas of
knowledge and skills. CCP (2001) considers the need for inter-disciplinary
knowledge and ability in obtaining professional qualifications. It noted that technical
competence must be demonstrated in multi-disciplinary areas, widening the

14
knowledge base in a broad range of topics, including various aspects of business
and finance as well as the traditional topics of accounting, auditing and taxation
(CCP 2001: 1).

On the whole, there seems to be an implied move to the range of necessary areas
with the addition of business and finance to the traditional topics; in areas of
assurance and related services; performance measurement and reporting; taxation
and law; strategic, business and financial management; as well as information
technology (CCP 2002). Acquisition and maintenance of professional knowledge,
combined with foundation knowledge is, thus, viewed as necessary to ensure
technical knowledge. PIA1 provided a detailed summary of professional view with
regard to breadth of knowledge required for competent conduct of work:

Knowledge of the clientbusiness world and economyrisks, events

outside the business that might affect ita very strong accounting skill seta
strong, broad skill set on things like taxation, corporate finance, management
skills, personnel side, law definitely, and more so, law is becoming more and
more important. Also things like, perhaps[silence].. environmental law,
employee relations, and areas about whether a business can continuea
greater knowledge of things like insolvencythe way that banks operate etc
(PIA1).

The interviewee seem to evoke a bottomless approach, in to have it all expertise,

implicitly pointing at the sense of discomfort with a lack of strong formulation of
expertise. A need to think broadly, to appear professional and thus, to regain lost
credibility was also re-emphasised; the views that were subsequently advocated by
other interviewees. It is interesting to note, that the representatives of the profession
who participated in the study and involved in the CCP initiative, explained its focus on
services provided; that is stressing the importance of quality relationships with the
clients, in determining competence and the knowledge required (PIB1) as a
fundamental aspect for changing face of identity under assurance.

Interviews indicated that there are different approaches to professional conduct,

depending on size of the firm. A number of interviewees indicated that professionals
in smaller, owner-managed firms are assessed on the basis of advice they give to
their clients whereas in the large businesses professionals are assessed on basis of
information provided. The differences in an opinion about knowledge base and its

15
significance for competence seemed to reflect the representation of different firm
sizes. The majority identified a key aspect to be knowledge of the clients business in
the context of clients sophistication and increasing demands. In terms of other areas
of knowledge, there seemed to be a split between interviewees as to what was
necessary for professionals to do their job competently. In most of the larger firms,
the interviewees did not identify a need for broad knowledge, including areas such as
consulting, tax or corporate finance. Interviewees from medium and smaller firms
on the other hand, felt that to be a professional was more about being more-
rounded, general practitioner, requiring a broad spectrum of knowledge across the
fields (MDA1).

In discussing developments in the profession, the interviewees expressed concerns

regarding the future of the profession, especially in areas where it is expected that
professionals will have to become specialised; that is, specialists assurance
providers that will make them able to meet clients objectives (BGD1), hinting at the
incapability of satisfying the clients demands. Hanlon (1994: 99) noted on this issue
of specialisation that people specialise due to the greater knowledge that is required
today as opposed to the past. However, this is also related to an overall perception
of lost trust in the expertise and firms capacities.

In practice, a move towards specialisation has apparently happened, particularly in

the larger firms, where the assurance function is a separate function from other
services. From Hanlons (1994) discussion, it can be inferred that the move to
specialisation has occurred incrementally, as a result of the commercialisation. The
firms with the resources can offer experts in some areas to their clients needing
specialised information. The other story is reflected in smaller firms. Smaller firms
seem merely to be able to subcontract their work out (MDA2), so the issue at stake
of competitive advantage in knowledge advancement is infrastructure. Interviewees
from the medium and smaller firms described themselves as all-round business
professionals that try to do best to build good rapport with the clients and gain their
respect (MDC1; MDD2). BGB1 explained the situation regarding increasing
specialisation, at least in bigger firms:

I think the days where people become CAs are sort of, can do tax,
insolvency, audit and everything, I think theyre gone and now theres too
many things to doits too riskywith a firm of our sizeyou have to pick
where youre going eventually, and specialise in that areawere too thinly

16
 spread. I guess for very small firms who are dealing with simple clients
wherethere arent really any issues (BGB1).

This is consistent with Cooper et als (1996: 642) suggestion that specialization
could be seen to enhance professional expertise. However, there were some voices
from professional interviewees who conversely believed that such specialisation to
be disadvantageous, especially in the age where trust in experts is somewhat gone.

if youre only doing one thingyou wont have the ability to see laterally. Its
difficult to be sceptical if you only have some of the experiences, but not
others. And the clients will not like it (PIA2).

There is a worry regarding the move of the profession towards specialisation, the
move that alters professional identity in assurance context in an impairment of
professional competence, since knowledge base is also obtained through experience
on the job. Yet, despite a drift towards specialisation, in practice, the syllabus for
professional qualifications is continuously expanding to cover more business issues
and wider areas of management. This suggests the conduct of work in the broader
areas, expanding more traditional and financial tailored services, a move away from
an auditor for an audit sake to an assurance specialist, a well-rounded expert
(MDA3).

Yet, there is the other side to this story. If the profession is to move away from
specialised knowledge, and towards diversification of services provided to the clients
under the umbrella of other services, and responding to clients more complex
demands, the clarification of threats to independence needs to be taken up seriously
in the context of provision of other services to clients alongside assurance. Despite
ongoing independence debate in the context of new services and assurance,
interviewees from profession and majority of practitioners viewed a wide experience
base as beneficial for enhancing professional conduct of work. Future research on
independence in new assurance environment may be merited to clarify the issues, in
order to reasonably limit restrictions on professional work, thus, preserving and
promoting a more holistic view of identity work in assurance milieu, without
compromising professional integrity and objectivity.

In discussing the nature of changing competencies, practitioners also stressed the

importance of integrity and commitment to the public interest and ethics in

17
professional conduct as well as the importance of personal skills. I now need to be
more vigilant and personally aware at work.hiding behind regulation doesnt suffice
any longer (BGB2). A service dimension of expertise that points to a comfort of
refraining from judgements via compliance practice has been challenged. In the post-
Enron world, the competent conduct seems to seek its revival.

In making up of professionals, CCP (2005) deemed professional attributes to be one

of the principal factors. Professional attributes has been redefined as the ability to
conduct work ethically and with integrity, in compliance with the highest ethical
standards. Work service recognising the public interest was also emphasised. A key
underlying factor for a business professional, there must be an inherent questioning
mindset and knowledge base. Some interviewees indicated at the idea of
increasing importance of personal inputs for their career progression (BGC1) and A
kind of gut-feeling you get when something seems not right is what I rely on more If
something smells, I take action. It is my initiative, not a schedule to follow (BGA6).
These views indicate a move away from more technical considerations to the more
emotive aspects of professional conduct, where the ethical dimension of competence
seems strongly desired.

Yet a paradox seems to emerge. If profession goes down the road of specialisation,
professionals will not be exposed to a wide range of experiences nor will they have
the opportunity to develop the requisite multitude of skills and attributes, especially
those more emotive. Being a competent practitioner is perceived as the one that
requires broad experience and skill, experience that cannot be obtained by narrow
specialising. Yet, some have been advocating a need for specialisation, mostly from
bigger firms. A leisure dimension of expertise resonates resistance for change.
They also stressed that technical excellence is the prime focus, for example, BGB3
believed competence to be a bit more technicala bit more mechanical, and BGA5
considered technical as being absolutely at the forefront of assurance services.

The secondary value attributed to more emotive and personal skills, especially from
bigger firms, could be explained as defensiveness of status quo, of what has been
conceptualised in this paper as a leisure expertise of compliance practice.
Significant number of practitioners seems to question the necessity of broadening the
epistemological stance of service, in the context of competing discourse of
commercialism, the clients focus and structure of work (BGA4; BGD3).

18
Regardless of the view taken on the development of commercialism in PSFs, the
issue remains that assurance firms today follow the ideology of commercialism,
which translates professional attributes into a focus on pleasing the client who pays
the fees (BGA3). Preoccupation with the manifestation of professional attributes
suggests a lack of substance in competence framework.

What can be delineated from a discussion of current regulatory developments with

the interviewees is a belief in the expert stratum with a strong interest in marketable
knowledge and weaker concerns for the public interest, focused on commercial drive
and professional image and comfortable with the compliance practice. Yet, at the
same time, this expert stratum seems somewhat uneasy about the sense of
imbalance created by clients demands and a lack of belief in their own capacity to
deliver what their clients want.

Professional ethics in a competent conduct of work: A lost object of desire

In recent years, the profession has put more emphasis on ethics. CCP (2003, p. 2)
identified the necessity for individuals to have the highestethical standards as
increasing ethical weight of professionalism. The professional regulation emphasises
that proper ethical behavior is as important as technical competence(IFAC, 2003a:
64). CCP (2002) considered ethical behaviour as part of professional attributes.

During the interviews, ethics was mentioned as important in the realisation of

competent work by the majority of respondents. BGA2 considered ethics to be as
necessary for competent conduct.

Ethical aspects are probably not relevant to whether somebody can do a tax
return, but they are relevant to whether somebody can do a tax return and
deliver the service to a client well. It is professional work. I suppose thats the
difference, its the kind of a contact element and a development of this contact
with the client (BGA2).

The way ethical dimension of competence is being realised in the above quote is
linked to the commercially informed clients satisfaction. Ethics can bee seen as a
desired element that can attract and impress the client. Similarly BGD2 clarified the
need for ethics in order to complete the job properly and then went on talking about
the needs of clients. These views also add weight to practitioners concerns as to the
construction and relevance of ethics for their work and sense of professional self.

19
Here are the examples that point at the ethical dimension of competence as an
anchor that one can hold onto in case the compliance practice doesnt suffice.

I think youre actions are important, but if you dont have your actions in the
right mind frame, in the right mindseta mindset which is focused on quality,
is a precursor to actually delivering and practising how you acthow you are
seen and then, hmm.. you may have a problem (BGD4)

Youre either competent or youre notif you were just acting and you
werent really competent you would be found out, when you start speaking to
the clientsyouve got to have that state of mind that you feel that you are
professional and that youattain to professional standards, you actually have
to be able to do stuff as well to maintain an ethical stance (BGC2).

In the first quote, the BGD4 pointed out at the importance of ethical conduct in
appearing as being and acting in a professional manner, ethics here become a tool
for impression management. In the second quote, BGC2 points at the ambiguous
construction of competence; technical and ethical dimensions seem to be used in a
complementary manner in a description of competent conduct, covering a sense of
loss in expertise. These beliefs reinforce the need for ethics to be incorporated in a
construction of a sense of being professional.

Helliar & Bebbington (2004) suggested a close link between ethics and competence
in their discussion of professional competence and due care as one of IFACs
fundamental principles of ethics. A reciprocal relationship was implied there; to be
competent also requires being ethical. Similar suggestions have been implied by
Anderson-Gough et al. (1998) in stressing a necessity of integration of professional
norms and values. Helliar & Bebbington (2004) found ethics-competence
complementarities in the ICASs Guide to Professional Ethics, highlighting the
necessity of competence in a state of being ethical. The third fundamental principle
of the ICASs Code of Conduct states that you should not accept or perform work
which you are not competent to undertake unless you obtain such advice and
assistance as will enable you competently to carry out the work. IFAC (2001: 76)
reinforced the significance of ethical competence in stating that when technical
competence of an expert is relied on, knowledge of the ethical requirements cannot
be automatically assumed. In a light of importance of ethical competence, there is a
need to strengthen the personal characteristics such as their independence and

20
integrity (Helliar & Bebbington 2004: 35), and their abilities to identify ethical
dilemmas (IFAC 2003b).

The essence of ambiguity of incorporation of ethical dimension into the competence

framework is represented by SMB1 is a discussion that conveyed considerable
confidence in the future of the profession:

People do things because theyre prescribed by, but they would never be part
of that profession if they didnt have a passion for what it stood for, and I do
believe, I hope that its truethat people in the profession share core ethical
values (SMB1).

First, the quote affirms the short-cut route to competent conduct via proscription and
compliance practice; affirmation for the leisure class of what constitutes competent
conduct. Second, falling into shared ethical values points out at a rhetorical
construction of competence, especially of an incorporation of ethics into the
competence framework. These views appear as idealised fantasies, somewhat
rhetorical but they reflect the overall concerns identified in the interviews for
importance of ethics in professional competence. PIA2 also emphasised its
significance drawing on grand claims:

The practitioners really have to have public interest at the forefront of their
mind when doing work. It is our [professional] duty (PIA2).

Despite these grand claims, of the public interest revival, there was significant level
of disagreement in the views of interviewees over the role of profession in serving the
pubic interest. About 60 % of the interviewees confirmed the actual role of profession
in serving public interest, whilst every third interviewee openly disagreed with the
professions role of serving the public interest in their professional conduct. Further,
there seemed to be an element of uncertainty of what is public interest. At times, the
notion of serving public interest was equated with serving the client, as mentioned in
interviews with MDB1 and BGD1.

Some interviewees, who attached a significant importance to an enactment and

appearance of being professional for a realisation of professional competence, also
reaffirmed the dominant clients focus in a discussion on ethics. Interestingly, of those
who appeared to attach importance more to a client service rather than a public

21
service, a significant proportion were in most senior positions. The focus on providing
service to clients was viewed as serving management, as opposed to the
shareholders that the statutory service is intended for. Some interviewees showed
awareness of the shareholders needs, but explained that ultimately, contact was
with the management of the firms, those that pay the professional fees (MDC2), and
they were therefore viewed as the client that they were serving. One interviewee
noted that in the conduct of their work, they have the shareholders in mind but
indirectlyits there only in the background (MDD1). These views again point at
the ambiguous nature of service and its ethical dimension.

Some of the mistakes may arise because people get things wrong; some
arise because perhaps there is a lack of thinking of the necessary integrity or
commitment to the public interest. Sometimes its confusion in the sense
that the practitioner is confused, or someone else, as to who their client really
is, and therefore mistakes arise because some think, a minority of people
have more concern for management than they do for shareholders and the
wider public interest (PIA1).

The interviewee insinuated the uneasiness with the lack of credibility in the service
delivery in a discussion of professional roles. The difficulties in defining a concept of
public interest and the impossibility of providing a practical indication for
reinforcement of ethics for professional conduct of work under assurance are
worrying, and highlight a deficiency in the communication processes in the firms and
in the regulation more generally in what constitutes the role of the profession today.
Further, this difficulty is also associated with a more rhetorical function of ethical
claims and desire of incorporation of ethics into the competence framework.

It appears that clients focus is at odds with working in the public interest in clarifying
the role of the professional and is more preoccupied with the clients demands and
wants. The importance of the ethical dimension of competence was hinted by PIB2.
He conveyed the belief that client service continues to be more important today to
professionals but argued that it was ethics that should be now of concern. He
realistically acknowledged that some people in firms will say that [client service] is
still most important, but I like to think they are not the majority (PIB2). Indeed, there
seemed to be a strong focus on meeting clients needs and providing valuable
services and advice to them, trying to gain their belief in the firms capacities to
deliver tailored services they demand. MDB2 noted that their clients always judge

22
competencies on the advice that they get from us (MDB2), reinforcing this move
away from just assessing stewardship to also advising, being all-round business
professional[s] (SMA1). BGB4 also explained:

the visual aspect of our client is the management, the people we work with
on a day-to-day basis, thats the people that we need to, to keep happywe
see our client as whoever the key stakeholders are, and sometimes that
might be the chief executive, it might be the director of finance, it might be the
shareholderwhere the money is [laughs], who makes the decisions
(BGB4).

The laughter is important in conveying more sarcastically whose interests are indeed
represented under the formula of best practice. It appears that the client focus has
over-shadowed the public interest for some time, suggesting that professionals now
use a clients service as a proxy for the public interest, and are encouraged to do so
by their employers, contrary to more utopian views of professional body
representatives (perhaps rhetorically utopian or perhaps also reflecting sarcasm). In
Cooper et als (1996) analysis of alternative archetypes of PSFs, two key features of
professionalism were the development of strong client links and quality of service.
Highlighting the sedimented nature of change, they noted that firms move towards a
managerial professional business archetype that entails client service.
Professionalism is viewed as being clients oriented and making a financial
contribution (p. 631), which is different from the traditional view of profession where
private accumulation is dependent on being seen to attend to the public interest and
to apply expertise (p. 630) and from the claims are being made today to revive the
public interest. PIA2 recognised that:

there was a period over thirty years ago I would say where Americanisation
of business really came in, and to a certain extent I think ethics was not at the
forefront and that was one of the problems. I see firms need to make money
(PIA2).

The interviewees self-conscious of post-Enron crisis, pointed out at a need to strike

the balance in the rhetorical claims of what ought to constitute the best practice.
Whilst client service is viewed as important, there are views from practice that it
should not take precedence over a sense of being ethical. Again, the insights from

23
the interviews reveal an instrumental shift to ethical dimension in the competent
conduct.

There seems to be a need in professional education for improved training on ethics

and overall maintenance project on more normative aspects of ethical competence, a
point recognised by PIA2: we are having to put [ethics] back into the education
syllabusnot that it was ever taken out, suggesting that it was not given a serious,
adequate attention. Possibly there is also another problem, an absence of real
training in ethics as oppose to appearance of dealing with ethics in education via
business ethics and corporate governance courses (PIA2). MDA1 perhaps more
realistically stated that competence should be a state of being, Im not sure that it is
though enough at work (MDA1).

Recognition of the need for an appropriate balance between the clients service and
ethical behaviour provides an indication that ethics is being taken into account, yet,
not substantially in identity work:

I personally would classify it [ethics] as an attributeI think competence is a

bit more technical, if you like, a bit more mechanicalcompetence is like
being able to stand up straight and walk, whereas ethics is what goes on in
the brain, it doesnt affect how you work. Its a bit complicated how you
understand a sense of your professional self but it has consequences on how
you make decisions (MDB2).

Similarly, MDA1 seemed to share this view on importance of professional and ethical
competencies for identity work:

Just because certain individuals act in a particular way, it doesnt mean they
werent technically competent and they didnt know how to deal with the
clients, there may be situations where the ethical side would be called in to
question and this is another important issue for professional work (MDA1).

The implicit, ethical nature of professional competence was conveyed as ambiguous,

unclear and somewhat mystified by the majority of the interviewees, and referred to
as a state of mind. Its a state of mind and you have to act in the way in which you
think you should be acting (PIB1). BGB4 added to the theme of ethics in stating that
competence is a state of mind, which must be continuously reviewed through the

24
moral obligation of sustaining it, for instance through CPD (BGA4), adding that
being ethical is an attitude of mind, a self-formation process. PIA2 also commented
on the mystification problem: to a certain extent they [firms] take that [ethics] for
granted, and that again is part of the problem, that they dont really seem to spell it
out. Further, internal norms were pointed out as reiterations of the instrumental
definitions in the regulatory frameworks (MDC1). Yet, the ethical competence didnt
come up in the discussions in relation to practice or in the concerns over meeting the
clients needs.

BGA1s words summarise the importance of debate on ethical dimension of

professional conduct of work in PSFs (assurance) as he suggested that recent
corporate failures were not failures in general work but a failure in executiona
failure in leadership, the buck stops at the top, failure in regulation (BGA1).

Some interviewees also pointed at the possibility that there remains an element of
individuals who compromise their position for personal fulfilment (BGC1). Few
admitted a no holds barred (MDB2) approach in fulfilling their interests on the job.
The adoption of a no holds barred approach (SMA1) would suggest a degree of self-
interest, a possible lack of identification with professionalism, and more importantly
possible ethical lapses in the regulatory framework that points at the importance of
the imaginary realms for enactment of competence; the attitudes very much in
contrast with the ethical claims for realisation of competent conduct .

Discussion: Towards more competent conduct?

The construct of professional competence envisaged as a package, identified in the
interviews, is a useful means for conveying the necessity of inclusion of variety of
components in constructing its evolving meaning. It appears that technical skills,
business skills and ethical skills are all amalgamated, forming the base for what can
be perceived as an image of a competent conduct. The interviewees perceptions
revealed the ambiguous and substantially rhetorical nature of competence and the
supporting formulations of competent conduct in the new professional assurance
realms within the consultancy arena. A competence framework, as promoted by
regulatory developments and supported by the views of practitioners can be
envisaged as a a lack and this lack is re-packaged via inter-related components.

A package of professional and personal attributes and interrelated elements, gives

ethics a significant, supporting role in conveying an image of professional conduct.

25
The package forms a basis of the framework for managing identity work via
reconstruction of what is professional competent conduct in the assurance milieu
(Figure 2)

Ethics place in the competencies framework can be envisaged as a symbolic

reinforcement of a set of values, dressed in a particularly crafted rhetoric. Ethical
dimension of competence appears as important as technical competence, as it
involves carrying technical competence through to operationalisation, having the
courage to make ethically informed judgements and conviction to complete work in
what is perceived and can be conveyed as the best professional manner, often in a
conflicting reality. Personal skills facilitate high quality work as well as complement
execution of tasks, according with ethical requirements compliance. This links to the
integration of professional skills and attributes, ensuring that all of the key
professional attributes are instilled together as expertise. Processes of maintenance
through learning and discipline perpetuate a self-crafting of a sense of professional
self, reflecting upon a sense of lack.

Good practice, and hence, competent conduct converges here technical with moral
dimension. Such construction of expertise is opening the doors for the assurance
services to be re-crafted into more peoples businesses, involved in the production
and the reproduction of an affect in profit maximisation, and what Roberts (2005)
referred to, the incarnations of the law of competitive markets, of the symbolic father
(p. 635).

Professional competence constructed in such a manner reveals amalgamated

knowledge formation, where personal characteristics are linked to the professional
dimension via a rhetorical use of ethical dimension in the reinvented symbolic domain
(S2). These processes appear driven by desire to cover the lack, the perceived lack
of credibility in the professional service today and the perceived lack of meaning of
real expertise (S1), through PDP and self-crafting.

Indeed, forces of commercially driven change in assurance have been effective in

substantially eroding the meaning of ethical conduct by incorporation of the ethical
dimension into a competence framework instrumentally. Yet, this is not a new claim.
Some have argued that rising specialisms and managerialisms have replaced public
service ethics a long time ago (e.g. Miller 1996; Armstrong, 1985). The profession
however still reserves the right to be a sole judge of what is competent conduct,

26
determining educational requirements, training and standards of practice as well as
regulating licensing issues. The professional institutes are vital in representing the
interests of the profession, defining its role and indeed preserving its status quo. Yet,
when ethical substance is overtly absent from professional codes of conduct and
organisational norms, professionals in their compliance practice can refer to those
texts as arbiters of the rightness and wrongness of their actions, in the absence of
the real expertise (S1). These codes and organisational norms can be envisaged as
a shortcut to decision making process, the means of releasing professionals of much
of the burden of having to make up their own judgements. To somewhat misuse a
term, professionals may fall back on meta-competences of the profession (S2).
Operating within the rules of the game emphasises perpetuation of a compliance
practice. In such a way, the profession continues to reinvent its own brands of
professional conduct and expertise (the expert class) which may be in a conflict with
more conventional and traditional professionalism claims.

Despite perceived importance of ethics in construction of professional conduct, a

great deal of attention was given during the interviews to a commitment to the clients
interest, and subsequently, to crafting of the skills that facilitate this commitment. In
all interviews, the importance and relevance of the role of professionals in working in
the public interest was acknowledged, however, the considerable clients focus,
suggested by the majority of the interviewees and confirmed by practising individuals,
seemed to take precedence over the commitment to the public interest, contrary to
the professional assertions in the regulatory structures and expectations expressed
during the interviews from the professional bodies. The clients focus in identity work
seems to be driven by the recognised commercialisation of the profession, which has
developed over the years, and results in adopting an increasing orientation toward
pleasing the client that is driven by the firms profit.

Conclusions: A lack covering the lack of the expert

Lacanian theory can help us to problematise the faultiness of the big Other, that in
the absence of the real is represented and attended to via dominant ideology of late
capitalism, emphasising the importance of fantasy, the imaginary realms in the
processes of identification, here via competent conduct in the context of assurance
work.

The importance of fantasy is correlative to the inconsistencies of the symbolic order

itself. The big Other here operates via the symbolic order that lacks the ultimate

27
signifier and thus can be seen as inconsistent and fragmented. This study by
highlighting importance of incorporation of ethical dimension into the professional
conduct reveals its instrumentality. The insights into the construction of competence
contribute to debate in professional identity in the hope of ensuring that in the
realisation of professional competence, the clients focus, and thus, demonstration of
technical knowledge and expertise do not take precedence over the professional
claims for competent conduct that are amalgamated with ethical discourse and
protecting the public interest with no much substance.

It seems that increasingly commercial focus drives a construction of professional

identity categories that is now realised by emphasising ethical side of competence. In
the professional regulations, professional competence is defined more instrumentally,
in line with an overall commercial focus and does not seem to have any links
epistemologically with ethical concerns. Ethics code can be thus seen as an empty
signifier for norms that suppose to safeguard professional behaviour; a symbolical
vehicle that supports the political interests of the profession.

Discrepancy between professional promulgations and the views from the practice on
the professional role and a construction of the professional competence that emerges
from this study requires an urgent response from professional bodies to clarify the
roles for competent conduct for service providers under the umbrella of assurance
world and to address the new, and yet, ambiguous ethical dimension of the job,
through education programmes on ethics. Most of all, it seems timely to call for the
empirical research that can address the problematic nature of PSFs working in the
public interest and its meanings on-the-job. At the moment it seems that regulatory
and institutional processes subvert and even obliterate ethical judgements producing
a compliance statement to their own counter-morality. Ethical claims in current
regulatory frameworks seem to have ideological character rather than substance and
become a form of control in terms of respectability building and the enactment in front
of the clients, enhancing the vested interests of the experts and the perpetuation of
the professional project.

Interviewees ambiguity with regard to what is interpreted as knowing and what is

interpreted as doing the right thing, in ethics terms, particularly with respect to
conflicts between the client, the public and the self-interest, confirmed the existence
of the professional identity dilemma with regard to what professional roles. A
disparity between the notions of serving the client and acting in the public interest

28
indicates ethical dilemma in itself, confirming Helliar and Bebbingtons findings (2004)
that professional decision-making processes do not seem to take seriously ethical
considerations, increases a need to bring ethics to the fore. This discrepancy points
at the seduction mechanism through language that adds weight to the need of future
explorations in the area of professional ethics - competence dialectic for identity
work.

A sense of ethical awareness requires ethical knowledge envisaged as a part of the

world and way of life, ethical knowledge that inherits from moral philosophy and
virtue-ethics stands in an opposition to largely individualised and abstracted
professional ethics (Kaptein and Wempe, 2002) and its restrictive regulatory forms.
Ethics then is what can make a difference; it becomes the finishing tie on identity
work, ensuring a competent conduct and understanding of the client with wider
considerations towards society and corporate social responsibility, aimed at
minimising a distance from the big Other and the real.

Despite regulatory changes and professional perceptions of professional competent

conduct and incorporation of ethics in the competence framework, there seem to be
lack of attention to ethical values, hence there is a lack covering the lack of the
expert, in professional education and practice, as conveyed in the interviews and the
literature (e.g. Dellaportas, 2005).

29
 Figure 1
Lacanian framework for the analysts discourse. A lack of the expert

Realm of the Lack

Imaginary (expertise)

Lobject S/
petit a

Realm of the Realm of

Symbolic the Real

Knowledge Big Other

S2 S1

30
 Technical competence

Wide knowledge base

Technical skills including assurance,
business & finance skills
Technical abilities and expertise
Professional experience
Compliance with ethical standards and best
practice

Ethical competence

Ethical judgements Professional Conduct

Commitment to public interest
Appropriate organisational context conducive
to ethical behaviour
Personal attributes and values

Professional skills and attributes Maintenance project

Professionalism Professional qualification/accreditation

Professional Integrity
Compliance with membership requirements
Professional attitudes
Scepticism a questioning mindset
Socialisation: incorporating the professions
norms & values into work identity &
behaviour
Maintenance of knowledge & skills
Continuing Professional Development

Figure 2 Professional conduct framework

31
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 Appendix 1 Interviewees coding

Professional/occupational capacity Organisation Code

Executive (also the CCP)

Professional institution PIA1

Executive Professional institution

PIA2

Professional institution
Education department (also the CCP) PIB1

International/
Advisor (also the CCP) PIB2
professional institution
Partner (also involved in recruitment and
training) Big 4 BGA1

Audit director (also involved in recruitment

and training of auditors) Big 4 BGA2

Senior manager (also involved in

recruitment and training of auditors) Big 4 BGA3

Recruitment officer Big 4 BGA4

Senior manager
Big 4 BGA5
Senior manager
Big 4 BGA6
Manager
Medium MDA1

HR manager Medium MDA2

HR recruiter & auditor Medium MDA3

HR director (previously auditor) Small SMA1

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HR recruiter (previously auditor) Medium MDB1

Manger Medium MDB2

HR director (previously auditor) Small SMB1

Senior manager Big 4 BGB1

Senior manager (recruitment) Big 4 BGB2

Audit director (also involved in recruitment

Big 4 BGB3
and training of auditors)

Partner (also involved in recruitment and

Medium MDC1
training)

Partner Medium MDC2

Audit director (also involved in

Big 4 BGC1
recruitment)

Partner (also involved in recruitment and

Big 4 BGC2
training)

HR director (previously auditor) Medium MDD1

Partner Medium MDD2

Audit director (also involved in

Big 4 BGD1
recruitment)

HR recruiter Big 4 BGD2

Senior Big 4 BGD3

HR recruiter Big 4 BGD4

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 Appendix 2 Generic interview schedule

1. What is professional competence

2. Professional conduct
Being professional
Professional culture/professional identity
Self-image

3. How to be competent
Nature of work
Early work experience
Training experience
Post-training experience
Attitude to firm/profession
Firm culture/professional identity
Values/interface with firm/profession values
Structure in work/autonomy
Informal aspects of work
Exit from profession/future plans (career)

4. General views on professional competence/professional conduct

Globalisation/implication for professional competence
Training - changes
Rules vs principles debate
Values/interface with firm/profession values

5. Obstacles to professional competence/professional conduct

Business advisory services /assurance future and impact on competence construction
Future of profession vs skills

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