The last six statements deal with the negative effects of
consumer issues. Results are presented in Table IV. Of the six
dimensions, five had significant differences between the
samples. In 1993, 49.4 percent of the respondents agreed with
the statement that “public confidence in the accounting
profession would be impaired by accounting service
advertising” while only 25.5 percent agreed with the
statement in 2004. For the next statement, “advertising of
accounting services confuses rather than enlightens potential
clients,” the percentage of respondents who agreed declined
from 31.3 percent in 1993 to 22.7 percent in 2004, a
significant difference. A similar but even stronger change in
attitude was found for the third and fourth dimensions. The
third dimension stated “the public would not regard
information in accounting services advertisements as
credible.” While 38.3 percent of the accountants agreed
with the statement in 1993, only 15.1 percent agreed in 2004.
The fourth issue was that “the advertising of accounting
services would tend to intensify client dissatisfaction after
services have been rendered.” In 1993, 44 percent of
accountants believed advertising would lead to a higher level
of dissatisfaction, while in 2004 only 14.1 percent believed
such a result would occur.