Opinion: "Whatever business you're in make sure your accountant is a chartered accountant." Does that ring a bell? It should. With a three-week, €100,000 advertising campaign on radio (and in the print media) ending this week, it was hard to miss.

Coming from a boisterous or aggressive organisation, such a campaign would hardly elicit a murmur. But coming as it does from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI), a conservative and far from grandiloquent institute, the campaign has managed to raise questions about the motive behind this marketing push. So what is going on?

Some industry sources have suggested that this uncharacteristic move was prompted by the failure of the ICAI, the largest accountancy body, to merge with the much smaller Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) earlier this year.

There was an understandable disquiet about the decision of both bodies not to go ahead, particularly as the proposals were not put to a ballot of the members.

This marketing campaign, some argue, would show the institute in a positive purposeful posture.

However, the advertising campaign is unlikely to be directly linked to the merger attempts. Rather it has to reflect the intense competition that exists between the various accounting bodies - the other two are the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), which is the second largest, and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). In the 1960s and 1970s chartered accountants held full sway in both auditing practices and industry. Virtually all top accounting jobs specifically asked for chartered accountants. Not any more. That perception has been gradually changing, and a glance at jobs advertised in a recent Business This Week reveals very few advertisements requiring chartered accountants. Instead, the vast majority specified "qualified accountants", a healthy development, as the other three institutes' members also provide important professional services.

While ICAI membership has grown strongly, from 11,425 in 1999 to 14,023 now, the growth rate in 2003 was just 3.7 per cent, and this year it looks as if it will be about the same. The student intake, which gives a good rough guide to the future, rose from 903 in 1999 to 1,022 in 2001, fell to 973 in 2002 and just rose marginally to 974 in 2003. That trend has to raise alert signals.

CIMA says it is holding its own in terms of market share but ACCA and CPA are growing at a faster rate. ACCA with a membership of 6,195 (plus 723 affiliates) grew by 7-8 per cent in 2003. Significantly it has 6,084 students.

CPA has a membership of 2,700.This grew by almost 6 per cent last year. It says the growth rate this year will be 10 per cent. CPA has a student base of 1,700.

As the figures indicate, both the ACCA and CPA have substantially larger student bases than ICAI. These cannot be directly compared with the ICAI because the chartered accountants, with a more arduous entry requirement - many have degrees - have a higher final qualification record of some 80 per cent.

Nevertheless, it is clear that the chartered accountant, while remaining the prime accounting qualification, and the largest accounting body in the State, will continue to face meaningful competition, particularly outside the auditing profession.

Accountants have, over the years, come in for strong criticism. However, there is now greater transparency and accountability. ICAI's 11-member complaints committee consists of six non-institute members and last year it received 97 complaints, representing just 0.6 per cent of ICAI's total membership. That percentage is considerably less than the complaints directed against solicitors. Perhaps the spotlight should now be focused on solicitors' practices.

Indeed the independent adjudicator's report into complaints against solicitors has made grim reading. There were 1,095 complaints against solicitors (there are over 6,500 in practice). Out of these complaints, 327 related to 80 solicitors representing 1.24 per cent of solicitors practising in the State.

Because much of solicitors' work is contentious, one would expect a high level of complaints. Nevertheless, the independent adjudicator, Mr Eamon Condon, stressed that "this is really unacceptable" and some certificates to practise might not be renewed. But what is mind-boggling is the revelation that of the 211 solicitors who were requested to attend the committee, 115 were requested "because of failure to respond to the society" in the first instance. And amazingly a further 35 failed to attend the committee and failed to provide an excuse.

It has been apparent for some time now - not because of these statistics, which provide a renewed focus - that the legal profession needs a complete revamp. As has been highlighted in the past, the cosy barrister/ solicitor arrangement merely featherbeds a costly and unnecessary system.

Solicitors, as indeed individuals can, and do, act as advocates (the barrister's role), but rarely in the higher courts. Why don't the large legal practices take this on? Of course, solicitors are not trained to be advocates, but why not? It is not a primary focus in their training but the Law Society has embarked on training programmes in advocacy; no discernible benefits have yet flown from these.

At the moment a complainant can instruct a solicitor to retain a specific barrister who is expert in a particular field. But if that barrister subsequently becomes unavailable, the original brief is passed onto a new barrister, so the client may well suffer.

In the UK, from where we inherited so many daft laws and practices, they have a system of chambers which, in effect, are partnerships of barristers. This arrangement greatly facilitates the taking over of briefs and accelerates the training of junior barristers.

For some strange reason these partnerships are prohibited by our Bar Council. A minimum reform should include the creation of chambers. One can see the status quo lobby vigorously resisting such a move.

But solicitors, unlike the accountants, are enshrined in law. Anyone can call themselves an accountant, which is a bit farcical when regulatory bodies and committees supervise the qualified accountants while those outside the net are free from the necessary constraints. Clearly the name accountant should be defined in any new legislation.

The chartered accountants are right to come out with their latest campaign to lightly beat their drum. But protecting their worthy brand name, in this highly competitive world, probably demands greater frequency, and importantly, a greater drive for students, the life blood for the future.

bmurdoch@irish-times.ie