The accounting profession and education: The development of disengaged scholarly activity in accounting in South Africa
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 21 August 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the actions of the accounting profession, the state, universities, and academics have inhibited the development of South African accounting research.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple history approach using traditional archival material and oral history is used.
Findings
Since the late nineteenth-century, a network of human and non-human actors has ensured that accounting education in South Africa retained a technical focus. By prescribing and detailing the accounting syllabuses required for university accreditation, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and its predecessors exercise direct control over accounting education. As a result, little appetite exists for a discipline based on academic enquiry or engagement with international scholars. While the SAICA claims to support accounting research, this support is conditional on its meeting the professional body’s particular view of scholarship.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations associated with this research are that it focusses on one particular professional body in one jurisdiction. The South African situation provides a cautionary tale of how universities, particularly those in developing countries, should take care not to abdicate their responsibilities for the setting of syllabi or course content to professional bodies. Accounting academics, particularly those in a developing country currently experiencing major social, political, and economic problems, are in a prime position to engage in research that will benefit society as a whole.
Originality/value
Although actor network theory has been used in accounting research and in particular to explain accounting knowledge creation, the use of this particular theoretical lens to examine the construction of professional knowledge is limited. This study draws on Callon’s (1986) four moments to explain how various human actors including the accounting profession, the state, universities, and accounting academics, along with non-human actors such as accreditation, regulation, and transformation, have brought about South African academic disengagement with the discipline.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for the insightful comments made on the original draft of this paper. The participants at the University of Waikato Department of Accounting seminar series, and participants at the 2014 AFAANZ Accounting History Symposium held in Auckland, New Zealand, at the 2015 AFAANZ Conference held in Hobart, Australia, and at the 8th Accounting History International Conference held in Ballarat, Australia, are also thanked for the input and feedback provided on earlier draughts of this paper. Additionally, Stewart Lawrence, James Guthrie, Brian West, and Nieves Carrera are thanked for their detailed feedback on earlier versions of this paper. James Guthrie, Co-editor of the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, is thanked for managing the review process for this paper.
Citation
Verhoef, G. and Samkin, G. (2017), "The accounting profession and education: The development of disengaged scholarly activity in accounting in South Africa", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 1370-1398. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2015-2192
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited