The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of four unsuccessful merger attempts between Australia’s two major professional accounting bodies over a 30-year period (1969 to 1998), each of which ultimately failed. An analysis of the commonalities and differences across the four attempts is provided and social identity theory is used to explain the differences between members level of support for these merger bids.,This study adopts a qualitative approach using a historical research methodology to source surviving business records from public archives and other data gathered from oral history interviews.,The study found that, across all four merger attempts between Australia’s two professional accounting bodies, there was strong support from society members (the perceived lower-status group) and opposition exhibited by institute members (the perceived higher-status group). This study also found that the perceived higher-status organisation always initiated merger discussions, while its members rejected the proposals in the members’ vote.,This paper focusses on the Australian accounting profession, considering a historical account of merger attempts. Further research is required that includes interviews and surveys of those involved in making decisions regarding merger attempts.,This paper is the first to examine in detail these four unsuccessful merger attempts between the largest accounting organisations in Australia.

中文翻译：

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未能统一澳大利亚领先的会计专业机构

本文的目的是提供澳大利亚两大专业会计机构在 30 年期间（1969 年至 1998 年）之间四次失败的合并尝试的历史记录，每一次都最终失败。提供了四种尝试的共性和差异的分析，并使用社会认同理论来解释成员对这些合并投标的支持水平之间的差异。本研究采用定性方法，使用历史研究方法来获取幸存的商业记录来自公共档案和从口述历史采访中收集的其他数据。研究发现，在澳大利亚两个专业会计机构之间的所有四次合并尝试中，来自社会成员（被认为是地位较低的群体）的强烈支持和研究所成员（被认为是地位较高的群体）表现出的反对。这项研究还发现，被认为是地位较高的组织总是发起合并讨论，而其成员在成员投票中拒绝了提案。本文关注澳大利亚会计行业，考虑合并尝试的历史记录。需要进一步研究，包括对参与合并尝试决策的人员进行访谈和调查。本文首次详细研究了澳大利亚最大的会计组织之间的这四次不成功的合并尝试。这项研究还发现，被认为是地位较高的组织总是发起合并讨论，而其成员在成员投票中拒绝了提案。本文关注澳大利亚会计行业，考虑合并尝试的历史记录。需要进一步研究，包括对参与合并尝试决策的人员进行访谈和调查。本文首次详细研究了澳大利亚最大的会计组织之间的这四次不成功的合并尝试。这项研究还发现，被认为是地位较高的组织总是发起合并讨论，而其成员在成员投票中拒绝了提案。本文关注澳大利亚会计行业，考虑合并尝试的历史记录。需要进一步研究，包括对参与合并尝试决策的人员进行访谈和调查。本文首次详细研究了澳大利亚最大的会计组织之间的这四次不成功的合并尝试。