The decline of the professionally-qualified accounting academic: Recruitment into the accounting academic community

The profile of the accounting academic has changed in recent years. The earliest academics were often recruited from the accountancy profession. Now the typical accounting academic recruit has a profile similar to the rest of the university, with the PhD being the qualification of choice. The reasons for this trend are examined using a cultural and institutional logics framework. The recruitment context and the institutional changes impacting on recruitment in accounting in academia are explored through the views of heads of department who have knowledge of both their institution’s recruitment policies and of the requirements of their discipline. As the research assessment process appears to be a driver of changing recruitment patterns, recruitment is considered in contrasting contexts: Scotland, where periodic research assessment takes place in both old and new universities, and the Republic of Ireland which does not have such a process. Despite differences in the views expressed by heads in these different contexts and differences in their research environments, the trend in all sectors is towards the recruitment (Scotland) or development (Republic of Ireland) of PhD holders rather than professionally qualified staff. The consequences for the nature of the discipline are discussed.     

A new method for ranking academic journals in accounting and finance

Given the many and varied uses to which journal rankings are put. interest in ranking journal ‘quality’ is likely to persist. Unfortunately, existing methods of constructing such rankings all have inherent limitations. This paper proposes a new (complementary) approach, based on submissions to RAE 2001. which is not restricted to a pre-defined journal set and, importantly, is based on quality choice decisions driven by economic incentives. For three metrics, submissions to RAE 2001 are compared with the available set of publications to provide evidence on the perception of journal quality, a fourth metric is based on the overall RAE grades, and an overall ranking is produced.     

Still flickering at the margins of existence? Publishing patterns and themes in accounting and finance research over the last two decades

This paper reviews the last 24 years of academic accounting in the UK, using survey data collected every 2 years by the British Accounting Association (BAA). Over this period, the number of academic accountants more than doubled, the number of full professors rose from 42 to 247, the proportion of staff with a Ph.D. rose from 9% to 39%, the proportion with a professional qualification fell from 73% to 50%, the proportion of academics with no publications fell and the proportion publishing in refereed journals rose. The analysis of the BAA data produces several other findings. First, the overall level of publications reached a peak in 2000 and declined thereafter. Since 1982–1983 there has been a distinct downward trend in the number of journal articles published each period per head, although from year to year the changes are more uneven. Second, very few UK academics publish in the journals, which are identified (by published ranking surveys) as being top international journals, with the exception of Accounting, Organizations and Society. Third, very few UK academics publish in the set of journals which they themselves rate the most highly in terms of quality and which are published primarily in the US. Fourth, the contribution made by UK academics to the international literature also increased, in terms of volume, up to the year 2000 and declined thereafter. Fifth, there has been a move away from publishing in mainstream accounting journals and professional journals. The paper considers some of the implications of these trends for the future of research, for teaching, for the individual progress of UK accounting academics, for the development of the discipline and for the international competitiveness of UK accounting research.     

UK PhD assessment in accounting and finance: social capital in action

Assessment lies at the centre of PhD degree quality standards, with quality assurance relying on independent external examiners. This study investigates the role of the viva and the selection of external examiners from within the accounting and finance discipline across UK institutions. A questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with academics (299 respondents; 49 interviews) and recent PhD graduates (73 respondents; 18 interviews) were undertaken. Findings identify multiple viva roles including verification; academic career development; and assessment. External examiner selection is outcome-driven, and the independence of examiners is questionable when secured using the social capital existing between an examiner and supervisor. Supervisors and examiners jointly gate-keep the academic community within cliques, although at the viva stage new entrants are rarely excluded. The PhD assessment process offers the opportunity for rogue cliques to develop, driven by favourable outcomes in terms of personal benefits and costs, allowing new entrants of insufficient quality.     

Accountants divided: research selectivity and academic accounting labour in UK universities

This paper presents data from a postal survey designed to explore the impact of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) on academic accounting labour in the UK. The RAE is seen as integral to the growth of managerialism in UK higher education and to the increasing commodification of academic labour. The data indicates that academic accountants are divided in their perceptions of and reactions to the RAE. It is argued that in co-opting peer review for managerial ends, the RAE appeals to traditional academic identities, re-enforcing existing divisions within the academic accounting community and dissipating resistance to its perceived negative effects. The conclusion is that despite a significant degree of hostility to the RAE, UK accountants are themselves in large part responsible for enacting this particular managerial control strategy. In the process, there is a danger that academic accounting knowledge is being distorted, the profession divided and academics disillusioned by its power to direct what “counts" as high status academic research.     

Bridging the gap between accounting and finance

I suggest that the separation of the academic disciplines of accounting and finance has had some detrimental consequences for the development of research and practice in both disciplines, and especially in finance. I argue that an understanding of financial statement numbers and the accounting principles on which they depend – the accounting microstructure – can be important in developing better valuation and asset pricing models and in identifying relevant dimensions of risk. Therefore finance research can benefit from assimilating recent advances in accounting research. Similarly, accounting research relevant to valuation and asset pricing can benefit by adopting theoretical perspectives and empirical methods from finance research.     

Sustainability and the reconstruction of academic finance

It is now widely acknowledged that tackling the ongoing global economic, social and ecological crisis will require to redefine simultaneously the existing criteria for the allocation of capital, the modalities of corporate governance, and the mission of organizations. The present special issue hence attempts to discuss new practices, remove existing epistemological obstacles to a paradigmatic diversification in finance, and carve out innovative paths for financial research.     

事务所开展财务与会计外包服务的思考

财务与会计外包服务正成为服务外包产业发展的热点。作为提供会计、财务与审计服务的专业机构,会计师事务所在开展财务与会计外包服务方面具有天然的优势。然而,在财务与会计外包服务的概念、内容、必要性及可行性、相关职业责任与质量控制等方面,许多事务所的管理层还没有准确而清晰的认识。本文拟就此谈些一己之见。     

Meta programme patterns in accounting educators at a UK business school

The purposes of this study are to compare the results of two alternative methods of eliciting meta programmes, the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile semistructured interview, and to identify whether accounting educators exhibit any dominant meta programmes. An individual trained to use the LAB Profile interviewed a sample of 14 accounting educators who then completed the MPQ. The results of the MPQ and the LAB Profile identified three common patterns, indicating a good degree of correlation between the two methods. Identification of the key meta programmes of the accounting educators may have benefits in their teaching and is the precursor to a larger study of the meta programmes of accounting undergraduates, which can now be undertaken in a cost effective way using the MPQ.     

A comparison of the dominant meta programme patterns in accounting undergraduate students and accounting lecturers at a UK business school

Meta programmes are a means of describing the behavioural traits that a person exhibits when interacting with other people. An understanding of meta programmes can improve communication between individuals and this may have implications for teaching. The purposes of this study are first to identify the dominant meta programme patterns of first year accounting undergraduates at a UK business school. An earlier pilot study validated use of the Motivation Profile Questionnaire (MPQ) to elicit the dominant meta programmes of accounting lecturers at the same Business School (Brown, 2002). Secondly, the students' meta programmes are compared with those of their accounting teachers to identify whether there are any differences or similarities between the two groups. The matching of the meta programmes of the teachers and students would enhance communication whilst major differences in meta programmes would make communication more difficult. A sample of 62 first year accounting undergraduates and 20 accountancy teachers completed the MPQ. The results indicate that, on average, the accounting students have similar dominant meta programme patterns to their accounting teachers. The implications of the findings for improving communication and therefore teaching are discussed, along with the scope for further research.     

Deconstruction and the responsibilities of the accounting academic

This paper draws on the philosophy of Jacques Derrida to review and re-evaluate the responsibilities of the accounting community and in particular of the accounting academy. The paper begins with a brief explanation of deconstruction and implications of responsible deconstruction for truth in accounting. It is argued that Derrida's philosophy is compatible with a pragmatic approach to the pursuit of truth in accounting. In the second section of the paper the responsible, and essentially ethical, nature of deconstruction is discussed and the charge that it threatens to undermine institutions like accounting that rely of notions of truth, reasons, objectivity and disinterestedness, is rebuffed. In the third part of the paper responsibilities of the university as an institution, and accounting, are discussed drawing on some of Derrida's work on that theme, and in particular responsibility to and for reason. Derrida's analysis is applied to accounting and two competing orders of responsibility are identified and contrasted: a traditional responsibility grounded in representationalism and a new responsibility of openness to the other's demand. In the fourth part of the paper discussion of contrast and tension between types of responsibility is extended into a consideration of the relationship between moral and ethical responsibilities, in the context of accounting education. The paper concludes with reflections on the responsibilities of accounting educators.     

Protecting agricultural accounting in the UK

This paper examines a particular accounting practice prevalent in the UK agriculture industry and reveals the ‘canopy of legitimations’ that appears to protect the practice and make it highly resistant to change. Agricultural gross margin accounting was innovated through Government sponsored agricultural extension programmes in the post-war period in Britain. The practice is not maintained primarily by farmers but rather by actors within Government agencies and agricultural service industries (including management consultants). New Institutionalism in Sociology (NIS) is used as a theoretical framework, and extended to consider the concept of legitimation as a reflexive process. Although the context is specifically UK agriculture, the theme of the protection of accounting methods by Government and other advisors is of more universal interest. The paper adds to the very few studies in the accounting literature that consider the agriculture and food industries.     

Corporate governance,accounting and finance: A review

We review accounting and finance research on corporate governance (CG). In the course of our review, we focus on a particularly vexing issue, namely endogeneity in the relationships between CG and other matters of concern to accounting and finance scholars, and suggest ways to deal with it. Given the advent of large commercial CG databases, we also stress the importance of how CG is measured and in particular, the construction of CG indices, which should be sensitive to local institutional arrangements, and the need to capture both internal and external aspects of governance. The ‘stickiness’ of CG characteristics provides an additional challenge to CG scholars. Better theory is required, for example, to explain whether various CG practices substitute for each other or are complements. While a multidisciplinary approach to developing better theory is never without its difficulties, it could enrich the current body of knowledge in CG. Despite the vastness of the existing CG literature, these issues do suggest a number of avenues for future research.     

Widening participation and contextual entry policy in accounting and finance

The paper examines the performance of accounting and finance students entering university via a ‘widening participation’ scheme that seeks to attract students who have been historically under-represented in higher education. Focus is placed on the policy of providing contextual entry offers that recognise that academic qualifications be judged in the social context in which they were achieved. Accounting and finance recruits the highest proportion of ‘widening participation’ students at a UK ‘Russell Group’ university and provides a key arena for investigating widening participation policy. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of relative performance levels over 12 years and interview findings with 27 students. The quantitative results show that those receiving contextual offers perform at least as well at university level as students with equivalent entry qualifications, thereby supporting contextual entry offer policy. The paper also provides insights into why accounting and finance is popular with ‘widening participation’ students.     

Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance,organizations and markets

This introductory essay reviews recent advances in the emergent field of social studies of finance (SSF) and, subsequently, sets out to illustrate how a closer engagement with SSF might benefit research interests in accounting and vice versa. Finally, it provides a sketch of how mutual engagements across the fields might be intensified in what is identified as an emerging accounting and finance track in the discourse of social science. The prospects of a broader field of research exploring the use of financial numbers across social settings, markets, organizations and cultures are projected, and the possibility of articulating a strong sociological programme of research is considered.     

Discovering the ‘international’ in accounting and finance

As higher education in accounting and finance moves increasingly in the direction of internationalisation of degree programmes and student populations, this paper reflects on the ways in which contemporary research contributes to the academic community's understanding of the rich potential of evidence available on international convergence and diversity.Reviews of research published in recent years have pointed to strong parochiality in the research questions and data choices of many researchers. This paper looks for a meta-structure of cross-sectional international comparisons across a range of papers at one point in time. Research papers of 2005 are selected from eight journals giving a broad coverage of subject matter.A cultural framework is proposed as a basis for an ethnographic view of the data and findings of empirical research papers. Cultural diversity is found as an explicit discussion in some papers but others are silent or even apologetic for cultural differences.Country-specific studies reveal the potential for comparative studies on a wider geographical basis but the achievement of such an aim will require the academic research community (editors, reviewers and authors) to show flexibility in dealing with smaller data sets and greater uncertainty about the nature of accounting information. Most importantly this review shows the considerable wealth of interest waiting for those who take time to peruse academic journals.