Research Paper Series No. 23 Explaining and addressing the ‘detachment of office bearers from their constituents’: a study of leadership election arrangements within a professional accounting body Masayoshi Noguchi* and John Richard Edwards† March 2007 * Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts, Department of Business Administration, Tokyo Metropolitan University † Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, Cardiff EXPLAINING AND ADDRESSING THE ‘DETACHMENT OF OFFICE BEARERS FROM THEIR CONSTITUENTS’: A STUDY OF LEADERSHIP ELECTION ARRANGEMENTS WITHIN A PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING BODY by Masayoshi Noguchi, Associate Professor Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts, Department of Business Administration Tokyo Metropolitan University 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji, 1920397 Tokyo, Japan Tel +81 42 677 2331
[email protected] and John Richard Edwards, Professor Cardiff Business School University of Wales, Cardiff Aberconway Building, Colum Drive Cardiff CF1 3EU United Kingdom +44 1222 874000
[email protected] EXPLAINING AND ADDRESSING THE ‘DETACHMENT OF OFFICE BEARERS FROM THEIR CONSTITUENTS’: A STUDY OF LEADERSHIP ELECTION ARRANGEMENTS WITHIN A PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING BODY Abstract: This paper examines the difficulty of achieving representative and effective governance of a professional body. The collective studied for this purpose is the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (formed 1880) which, throughout its existence, has possessed the largest membership amongst British accounting associations. We will explain why, despite a series of measures taken to make the constitution of the Council more representative between formation date and 1970, the failure of the 1970 scheme for integrating the entire UK accountancy profession remained attributable to the ‘detachment of office bearers from their constituents’ [Shackleton and Walker, 2001, p.