本研究擬從企業形象的角度來觀察會計師之形象，主要研究目的有三，首先以國人外相關文獻為基礎，考量國內會計專業環境，並徵詢會計師與企業界主管意見，發展出會計師事務所形象模型；其次，本研究以上市、上櫃、公開發行及中小企業為對象，調查其對所往來會計師事務所及整體會計師界之形象認知；最後本研究分析不同屬性的企業群組，對事務所之形象認知是否有顯著差異。 本研究共寄發2690份問卷，其中包括上/櫃公同506家、公開發行公司1218家以及未公開發行公司966家，共回收732份問卷，回函率27.37％。刪除資料不完全或回答顯然偏頗的問卷後，納入分析的有效問卷計有327份，佔總發函問卷比例12.2％。 實證分析包含兩部分，第一部份為探討企業界對事務所開個形象構面的認知，並藉由事務所規模大小、企業是否為公開發行、往來事務所家數、使用顧問服務與否等四項特質將企業分類，找出不同類別的企業對於事務所形象的認知是否有顯著差異。第二部份則利用因素分析找出形象因素，並與第一部分之研究結果做比較。 實證結果發現，企業界普遍認為九個形象構面皆是影響會計師事務所形象的重要因素，其中較為重要的三項是專業知識與管理技能、業道德與瞭解客戶需求。事務所在開大形象構面上之表現，受訪企業最滿意的是有形性，最不滿意者則為服務價值，企業不滿意的理由主要是事務所收費較昂貴、事務所未能提供所預期的服務水準及收費未能與專業價值相符合。本研究亦發現，企業界普遍認為其所往來之事務所形象優於會計師業界之整體形象。 分析不同屬性的企業群組結果顯示，大事務所之客戶對會計師有較佳之形象認知，六大事務各方面表現明顯優於非六大事務所；往來事務所家數較少的企業對事務所有較佳的形象認知；使用顧問服務的企業事務所亦有較佳的形象認知。 因素分析之結果則顯示，國內企業界將種與會計專業服務直接相關的項目都視為專業素養，例如溝通協調、瞭解客戶、工作態度、服務價值與有形性等，此種對專業之廣義性詮釋，相對於國外類似研究之結論而言，是相當特殊的。

The professional image of accounting firms in Taiwan has long been ranked far behind other professions such as medical and law. It is well believed that the poor image was mostly due to the misconduct by unethical CPAs as well as the existence of the expectation gap between the profession and the clients or the general public. In the last decade, however, the capital market in Taiwan has experienced dramatic growth and hence created the great demand for high quality of audit service. On the other hand, the number of CPAs has significantly increased as a result of higher CPA passing rate policy since the late 1980s. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the recent professional image of accounting firms in Taiwan in an attempt to add more understanding on the various dimensions of CPA's professional image after the change of audit environment and accounting profession in last ten years. This paper addresses the issue of professional image of accounting firms in the following steps. First, this paper tries to develop a professional image framework particularly for accounting firms in Taiwan based on prior business image literature and the interviews with local CPAs and their clients. Next, this paper conducts a questionnaire survey using the framework developed in the first stage to investigate the perceptions of clients on the professional image of their respective CPAs and the profession as a whole. Third, this paper analyzes if client attributes affect the perceptions on the professional image of accounting firms. Lastly, this study also employs factor analysis to extract the professional image factors which are used to compare with the dimensions developed in the framework. The professional image framework of accounting firms constructed in this study can be categorized into nine dimensions: understanding client needs, communication and coordination, professional knowledge and management skill, service attitude, tangibles, ethics, service value, legal liability, and social responsibility. Questionnaire was sent to 2690 companies containing the following four groups:(1) 403 companies listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange (2) 103 companies traded over the counter (3) 1218 publicly-held companies and (4) 966 privately-held companies. Although the overall response rate is 27.37%, the final sample examined consists of only 327 firms, with effective response rate of 12.16% after imposing rigorous data requirement. The empirical results indicate that all dimensions are perceived to be very important in determining the professional image of accounting firms, with average scores ranged between 5 and 6.6 using a seven-point Likert scale. In particular, professional knowledge and management skill, ethics, and understanding client needs are ranked top three, while tangibles is perceived to be the least important attribute. It is found that in general clients are at best satisfied with the image attributes in the medium level. Of the nine dimensions, they are most satisfied with tangible dimension of accounting firms, whereas they are least satisfied with the service value provided by CPA firms. The dissatisfaction is mainly due to the higher audit fee and the undesired service quality provided. This study also shows that clients are not very satisfied with the industry knowledge their CPAs possess. Interestingly, this study finds that clients tend to perceive their engagement CPAs better than the accounting profession as a whole. Analysis of client attributes indicate that Big-6 clients have better perception on their CPAs and the accounting profession as a whole relative to non-big-6 clients. Further, the fewer the number of CPAs employed, the higher degree of satisfaction with professional service provided. Clients purchasing consulting service from incumbent CPAs are also found to have better perception on the professional image. The results from factor analysis indicate that the professional knowledge factor identified indeed contains several dimensions of the image framework such as professional skill, understanding client needs, work attitude, service value and intangibles. This unique perception differs from what has been documented before.