The interaction of continuing professional development and identity : the experiences of women professional accountants in Canada

Abstract

Continuing professional development (CPD) is a requirement for accountants to maintain their professional designation, ideally it may be used to assist in progression within the field; yet there is very little research on CPD for accountants and research that has focused on the interaction of experiences and identity is particularly scarce. This thesis, underpinned by a feminist view, undertook an interpretive analysis of oral history interviews provided by sixteen women in British Columbia. This study found that CPD, rather than assisting in building the professional identity and improving a professional’s standing, may work to maintain the status quo in the accounting field and retain the gendered hierarchy within the accounting profession. The study provides further support to indicate that professional identity both influences, and is influenced by, other identities and further explores the differences between identity, habitus and roles. Capitals available to women that should aid in their progression in the accounting field are dependent both on their place within the accounting field itself and their position in other fields; the need for capitals goes beyond what is necessary within the field itself as the interaction with other identities and other fields plays an important role in the quest for, as well as successful utilization of capitals. The need for capitals is also affected by an accounting field that is not homogenous and heterogeneous subfields are influential in identification of successful capitals. The manner in which CPD is used relates to a professional’s place within the field, with those already near the top of the field focusing more on social capitals and those nearer the middle or bottom of the field focusing on the cultural capitals provided. The structured and structuring aspects of CPD work within the professional accounting field to maintain the gendered and hierarchal nature of the field.