Accounting in crises or rises?

The HIH Group failure has challenged the credibility of the accounting profession and various stakeholders in Australia have questioned the relevance of financial reporting for decision making. This paper examines the recent historical developments of the Australian accounting profession as a corporative association in a social setting and its ups and downs of authoritative influence in accounting standard setting and financial reporting. It then outlines the submissions made by the accounting profession, actuaries, and regulatory institutions in relation to the HIH Group failure. These deliberations are analysed in relation to the profession promoting functionally defined interests, offering stable compromises, to the questioning of the legitimacy of techniques and the demand to re-structure inevitable inequalities. Finally, the paper offers suggestions as to how the profession can reconstruct itself to regain its lost authority.