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Policy Issues Raised by For-Profit Spinoffs from Professional Associations: An Evaluation of a Recent AICPA Initiative

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Abstract

This paper provides an evaluation of the spinoff of a for-profit company from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), a nonprofit professional association. The evaluation is based on a review of the literature on public policy issues surrounding organizational conversions from nonprofit to for-profit legal status. Many criticisms of this for-profit spinoff were voiced by professional leaders and accounting regulators, and we demonstrate that these criticisms are grounded in widely recognized policy principles relating to nonprofit conversions. The public policy issues raised by this study have implications for the governance of professional associations in all disciplines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, 400 Corporate Pointe Drive, Culver City, CA, 90230, U.S.A

    William E. Shafer

  2. University of Portsmouth, U.K

    Dwight Owsen

Authors
  1. William E. Shafer
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  2. Dwight Owsen
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Shafer, W.E., Owsen, D. Policy Issues Raised by For-Profit Spinoffs from Professional Associations: An Evaluation of a Recent AICPA Initiative. Journal of Business Ethics 42, 181–195 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021946917170

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