Accounting for Trust: A Conceptual Model for the Determinants of Trust in the Australian Public Accountant – SME Client Relationship

Abstract

This paper investigates trust as it relates to the relationship between Australia’s public accountants and their SME clients. It describes the contribution of the accountancy profession to the SME market, as well as the key challenges faced by accountants and their SME clients. Following the review of prior scholarly studies, a working definition of trust as it relates to this important relationship is also developed and presented. A further consequence of prior academic work is the development of a comprehensive conceptual model to describe the determinants of trust in the Australian public accountant – SME client relationship, which requires testing via empirical studies.

Keywords

• Trust
• public practice accountant
• SME
• B2B
• compliance services vs non-compliance services
• third tier and beyond
• expectations gap