Closure events impacting on class mobility may include mechanisms initiated by bodies
other than the professional body. The research examines if the introduction of
full-time study requirements at universities for aspiring accountants effectively
introduced a closure mechanism in the accounting profession. Data was derived from
an Oral History study of partners in large firms. The younger partners (born after
the Second World War) completed full-time degree study at university, but did not
provide evidence of class mobility into the profession. The older cohort, born
between 1928 and 1946, completed part-time studies only, few completed a degree,
and, in contrast to the younger cohort, shows a perceptible upward movement from
lower socio-economic classes into the professional class. This suggests that
changing the preferred educational routes for new accountants entering the large
chartered accounting (CA) firms compromised the “stepping stone”
function of accounting as a portal into the professional class.
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