The accounting profession's influence on academe: South African evidence
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 21 October 2013
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the influence of academics who are members of the profession on academic institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
An analytic autoethnography of the influence of accounting academics who are members of the profession on South African universities, supported by publicly available information, such as policy and other documents, web sites, and published material; documentation the authors are able to gather as participants; and formal and informal interviews the authors conduct with academic managers.
Findings
The paper finds that profession-identifying academics create and maintain rules and structures within academe, rules and structures that suit the profession. Managers who are members of the profession identify more closely with the profession than with their university. The analysis reveals the mechanics of this influence, as well as the consequences.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to theory by synthesizing the creation of profession-inspired institutions framework and the maintenance of an institutions framework into a single framework. It also applies the theory by providing an example of a profession creating and maintaining institutionalization in an adjacent institution. The findings have implications for academia in cases where academic staff members are members of professional bodies, such as engineering and law faculties. The insights highlighted here may also be of interest to Australasian, UK and US accounting academics, because the literature contains evidence of pressures from professional bodies there.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Editor, two anonymous reviewers, Mary Barth, Jane Baxter, Michael Bromwich, Robert Chenhall, Stephen Coetzee, Paul Collier, Craig Deegan, Petri Ferreira, Graeme Harrison, Jenny Hoobler, Kerry Jacobs, Stephen Jollands, Michael Keenan, Stewart Lawrence, Stella Nkomo, Renee Radich, Grant Samkin, Carol Tilt, Daan van der Schyf, Karen Van Peursem, Quintus Vorster, Geoff Whittington, Arch Woodside, participants at seminars at the University of Waikato, and Macquarie University, and two anonymous reviewers and participants at the APIRA 2010 Conference for their helpful guidance and comments.
Citation
Retief Venter, E. and de Villiers, C. (2013), "The accounting profession's influence on academe: South African evidence", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 1246-1278. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-06-2012-01027
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited