Gallup Poll Confirms Rising Perception of the CPA Profession

These results coincide with the independent research conducted earlier this year, which revealed that approval rates continue to climb for the CPA profession.

The results of Gallup’s annual poll on the image of various professions in the U.S. show that while perceptions of the oil and gas industry and the federal government plummeted this year, accounting is garnering higher ratings.

More than 20 business and industry sectors were rated for the purpose of the annual Gallup Poll. Respondents were asked to measure their approval or disapproval rate of an industry based on a five-point scale, ranging from very positive to very negative. Up eight approval points from last year, the poll results indicate that Americans continue to view accounting as one of the top-tier businesses in the United States.

These results confirm the research conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates in March 2005 on public perception of the CPA profession (http://www.aicpa.org/download/news/2005_0522a.pdf). Five hundred business decision-makers and executives and 500 investors participated in telephone interviews that resulted in positive findings of the already upstanding reputation of CPAs. CPAs were rated several percentage points higher than physicians by business decision makers and executives. Moreover, CPAs beat other financial-related professions hands down, including insurance agents, bankers, management consultants and stock research analysts.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) takes pride in the CPAs across the country serving to protect the public interest.