Public perception of accountants, planners plummets
New research has found the public's perception of accountants’ and financial planners’ ethics and honesty has hit all-time lows.
Roy Morgan’s 2015 Image of Professions survey found that accountants were among the “biggest losers” in 2015, with the profession’s rating falling by 7 per cent to 45 per cent.
Financial planners, meanwhile, are now at their lowest-ever rating for 'high' or 'very high' levels of ethics and honesty following a series of scandals within the industry.
The rating for bank managers fell by 9 per cent to 34 per cent, while lawyers’ rating fell from 38 per cent to 31 per cent.
“There is still no love for our politicians, with state MPs at 14 per cent (up 2 per cent), only marginally favoured ahead of federal MPs at 13 per cent (up 1 per cent), but both are in front of only a handful of professions including insurance brokers at 11 per cent (down 5 per cent), real estate agents at 9 per cent (unchanged), advertising professionals at 5 per cent (down 3 per cent) and right at the bottom of the heap, car salesmen at 4 per cent (up 1 per cent) – a position they have held for over 30 years, unchallenged, as Australia’s least trusted profession,” Roy Morgan stated.
The survey was conducted in early April and attracted 598 respondents.
