This paper examines professional associations’ local responses to global demands of accounting standardisation. Our longitudinal study from 1998 to 2018 analyses how professional associations of the German audit profession engaged in an intense framing contest over the adoption of external quality controls. Drawing on the concept of strategic action field and the literature on framing, we unpack how the gap between large audit firms and small audit firms increasingly undermined the capacity of the professional associations to fulfil their dual role of governance and representation. We unveil how their failed attempt to maintain the image of an unified profession ultimately led to the creation of a new professional association representing the ‘small auditor’ professional, which successfully, albeit temporarily, took control over the field of German auditing. Our findings suggest that the passivity of small audit firms in the process of translating global regulatory regimes should not be presumed. Rather, we provide insight into how small audit firms can rebuild their own identity by actively responding to waves of global regulation. Doing so, and contrary to prior research, our case highlights that governance units within strategic action fields are not necessarily aligned with the interests of the most powerful field actors.

本文考察了专业协会对全球会计标准化需求的反应。我们从 1998 年到 2018 年的纵向研究分析了德国审计行业的专业协会如何就采用外部质量控制进行激烈的框架竞赛。借鉴战略行动领域的概念和关于框架的文献，我们解开了大型审计事务所和小型审计事务所之间的差距如何越来越削弱专业协会履行其治理和代表双重角色的能力。我们揭示了他们维护统​​一职业形象的失败尝试如何最终导致创建一个代表“小型审计师”专业人士的新专业协会，尽管是暂时的，但成功地，控制了德国审计领域。我们的研究结果表明，不应假定小型审计公司在转换全球监管制度的过程中是被动的。相反，我们深入了解小型审计公司如何通过积极应对全球监管浪潮来重建自己的身份。这样做，与之前的研究相反，我们的案例强调战略行动领域内的治理单位不一定与最强大的领域参与者的利益保持一致。