Challenging the dominance of formalism in accounting education: An analysis of the potential of stewardship in light of the evolution of legal education

Murphy, Tim; O'Connell, Vincent

doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2016.06.001

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 132 publications

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“…Lambert & Sponem, 2005;Macintosh, 1995). In this respect, the protocol we advocate is not reducing but rather increasing complexity by providing an alternative set of rationales and a vocabulary that are not solely concerned with economics (Messner, 2009;Murphy & O'Connell, 2017), and which may therefore mitigate the dominance of homo economicus.…”

Section: Discussion: Towards a More Ethical Accounting Professionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond accountants as technocrats: A common good perspective

Frémeaux¹,

Puyou²,

Michelson³

2020

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

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In a context characterised by the scientification of accounting practices and standards, an important question to pose is how might accounting professionals be released from an excessive focus on rationality (technical accuracy, technical neutrality and technical abstraction) and reclaim the profession in the public interest? Grounded in a person-oriented approach, we contend the common good principle can help accountants to mitigate the tyranny of economic rationality/homo economicus notably through greater consideration of public interest, thereby enabling them to exercise stronger ethical judgement. First, the common good can serve as a basis for the establishment of an ethical protocol based on the search for embedded community goods, human development and the personal good of each member. Second, the common good provides specific ethical principles including subsidiarity, totality, teleological hierarchy, longterm commitment, reality and unity that can better assist accounting professionals to exercise ethical judgement and therefore contribute to the public interest. In contrast to defending a strict adherence to ethical rules enshrined in professional codes of conduct, this article argues for an open ended protocol inspired by the common good principle. This will, we contend, better promote the re-contextualisation of accounting practices conducted by reflexive, sentient and publically-conscious practitioners.

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Section: Discussion: Towards a More Ethical Accounting Professionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond accountants as technocrats: A common good perspective

Frémeaux¹,

Puyou²,

Michelson³

2020

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

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“…Weetman [10] (p. 153) explains that "financial reporting refers to a combination of quantitative accounting statements and narrative reports" directed at shareholders, lenders, and other stakeholders. Since the early part of the 21st century, a global accounting initiative that had already made slow but steady progress for several years began to gain serious momentum [9,11,22,23]. The aim of this initiative was (and is) the standardization of financial reporting practices globally.…”

Section: Financial Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Reporting as a Source of Innovation-Relevant Competitive Intelligence

O'Connell

Abughazaleh

Whelan

2021

Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity

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In this article, we demonstrate that contemporary financial reporting systems have the capacity to contribute significantly to the generation of innovation-relevant competitive intelligence. This potential arises because, as part of its regular work, the financial reporting system compiles, collects, analyzes, and synthesizes strategically relevant information about (i) complex internal technical processes related to inventions, discoveries, product development, process innovations, and the like; (ii) detailed sales, cost, and profit forecasts; (iii) consumer trends and innovative developments in the firm’s markets; (iv) actual and potential competitor actions in the market; and (v) regulatory changes, macro-economic trends, and information about the likely impact of government policies. We argue that this competitive intelligence can, if properly harnessed, lead to better informed discourses and decisions around innovation. Consequently, we highlight the potential—from both academic research and practical perspectives—of financial reporting as an enabler of innovation-relevant competitive intelligence embeddedness within firms.

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“…Murphy and O'Connell (2017) made a similar observation and coined this the dominance of 'accounting formalism', which neglects 'the social, critical and ethical dimension' (Murphy & O'Connell, 2017, p. 1). The dominance of the technical over the ethical aspects of accounting education have led prior research to call for the adoption of more ethical theory, dilemmas, questions and ethical considerations in accounting education (Amernic & Craig, 2004;Boyce, 2004Boyce, , 2008Carmona, 2013;Chabrak & Craig, 2013;Hopper, 2013;Merino, 2006;Murphy & O'Connell, 2017;Saravanamuthu & Tinker, 2002, 2008Sikka et al, 2007). Much is yet to be done, however, especially in the field of MA, as the majority of the above-mentioned papers seem to address other fields of accounting than MA, as noted by Sikka et al (2007, p. 13):…”

Section: Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A discussion of underlying assumptions thus creates an opportunity to discuss 'alternative' theories that can be used to understand MA, such as stewardship theorywhich assumes that employees are intrinsically motivated (Davis, Schoorman, & Donaldson, 1997) and self-determination theorywhich assumes that employees are motivated by relatedness, autonomy and competence (Gagné & Deci, 2005). These two theories are increasingly incorporated in research on MA, which forms an additional reason to include these theories in courses on MA (see also the recommendations by Murphy & O'Connell, 2017). Empirical papers that can be used to discuss stewardship theory in an MA context are for instance Segal and Lehrer (2012) and Van der Kolk, Ter Bogt, and Van Veen-Dirks (2015), and papers that apply self-determination theory in an MA context are for instance Groen, Wouters, and Wilderom (2016) and De Baerdemaeker and Bruggeman (2015).…”

Section: Suggestions For Integrating Ethical Considerations In Ma Edumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the ethics of financial accounting education has been the object of public and academic attention for some time (e.g. Amernic & Craig, 2004;Chabrak & Craig, 2013;Cooper, Dacin, & Palmer, 2013;Graham, 2012;Murphy & O'Connell, 2017), it looks as if management accounting (MA) education escapes similar scrutiny (cf. Sikka, Haslam, Kyriacou, & Agrizzi, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethics matters: the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting textbooks

Kolk

2018

Accounting Education

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This paper examines the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting (MA) education. Drawing on the work of Alisdair MacIntyre, it is argued that MA instruments such as performance measurement are not morally neutral, but instead bear moral implications. Therefore, this paper contends that MA students should be trained to take these moral implications into consideration alongside MA's technical aspects. A content analysis is carried out to examine the integration of ethical considerations in top-ranked MA textbooks. The findings indicate that these textbooks, particularly the introductory textbooks, marginally integrate ethical considerations. Furthermore, the findings point to the risk of detaching ethical considerations from the discussion of MA's technical aspects, which may weaken the potential of the ethical considerations and turn them into 'afterthoughts'. Finally, this paper offers practical suggestions for the improvement of the integration of ethical considerations in MA education and concludes with directions for future research.

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Challenging the dominance of formalism in accounting education: An analysis of the potential of stewardship in light of the evolution of legal education

Cited by 21 publications

References 132 publications

Beyond accountants as technocrats: A common good perspective

Beyond accountants as technocrats: A common good perspective

Financial Reporting as a Source of Innovation-Relevant Competitive Intelligence

Ethics matters: the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting textbooks

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