Understandings about what counts as ‘professional’ conduct, for example, are not necessarily uniform or consistent. This is because those involved in regulation are continuously engaged in maintaining and asserting their status (Willmott, 1991) in relation to each other and to significant others (., politicians, civil servants, journalists, academics) who have their own agendas and may (even wilfully) ‘misinterpret’ , question, or criticise the ‘professional’ meanings that accountants seek to ascribe to their conduct. However, this process is not adequately analyzed as a universal dance of life. For it is also an historical game whose rules and conventions are.
