Abstract The conflict between an irresistible force and an immovable object exists in the public accounting profession today. Management services are the irresistible force, independence is the immovable object. The lucrative and challenging field of management services beckons, the concept of audit independence stands resolute against the enticements of this expanding field. There is a wide diversity of opinion as to the compatibility of public accounting's irresistible force and its immovable object. According to the author a recent survey revealed that management services have increased overwhelmingly for firms of all sizes, and for individual practitioners such work has increased 35% in five years. The dilemma posed by management services is not manifested simply in an internal struggle within the profession, it is not confined to an esoteric debate between practitioners and professors. Much of the disagreement over the effect of management services on independence relates to semantics.
Walter G. Kell (Mon,) studied this question.