Defining of impression management tactics used by members of the accounting profession: An application in Trabzon and Rize

The study was conducted in order to define impression management tactics used by members of the accounting profession operating in Rize and Trabzon. The study aims to identify whether the used impression management tactics change in terms of the variables, such as title, gender, city of profession, age, professional experience, level of education and importance given to impressions, or not. The sample of the study covers 102 accountants in total and includes 13 independent accountants, 86 independent accountant and financial advisers and 3 sworn financial officers. A questionnaire was used in order to collect data for the study. The collected data was analysed through SPSS programme. Factor analysis was conducted in order to determine the impression tactics used by the members of the accounting profession. The variables of gender, city and importance given to impressions were tested through Mann Whitney U Test and other variables, namely title, age, professional experience and level of education were tested through Kruskal Wallis H Test in order to see whether these variables are affecting the used impression management tactics or not. The two important findings of the study are as follow: Firstly, while the variables of title, gender, city of profession, professional experience, level of education and importance given to impressions don't create a significant difference in terms of the assertive impression management tactics by the members of the accounting profession, age variable creates a significant difference. Secondly, while the variables of title, gender, age, level of education, importance given to impressions don't create a significant difference in terms of the defensive impression management tactics by the members of the accounting profession, the variables of city of profession and professional experience create a significant difference. Key Words: Members of Accounting Profession, Impression Management, Profession of Accounting, Impression Management Tactics