Redefining Success in Accounting Education Reform: Transformational insights from teaching accounting as a language

Seminar summary

Purpose: In line with critical scholars looking to transform accounting education, this research presents our efforts to implement an ‘accounting as a language’ approach (Graham, 2013). We implemented this approach in a first-year financial accounting course at an international business school in France.
Design/Methodology/Approach: We present a case study to explore the challenges we faced in implementing this approach, as well as the ways in which we had to adapt to challenges. Drawing on the nascent accounting literature to incorporate prefigurative politics, we reconceptualize accounting education reform as a dynamic space for direct action.
Findings: We acknowledge that there was little critical reflexivity evident amongst students as a result of our efforts, but argue that such a simplistic notion of success obscures the changes we were able to achieve. We present reflections on our efforts to redesign the course, as well as insights from students, to propose a transformational implementation strategy for educational reform efforts. We argue that this strategy can enable educational reform efforts to facilitate change.
Practical Implications: In line with the longstanding need for accounting education reform, we provide insights into the implementation of a literary approach to accounting. In so doing, we recharacterize the way accounting educators can work to equip students with a deeper understanding of the way accounting is socially constructed and empower them to question and challenge prevailing assumptions in the field.
Originality/Value: The originality of this research lies in our application of prefigurative politics (Graeber, 2014) to accounting education reform. By reconceptualizing educational reform as a dynamic space for direct action, we offer a novel perspective that can be actualised via the transformational implementation strategy that is proposed. In so doing, we put forward insights and guidance that can help implement transformational educational reforms in the here and now.

Keywords:
Accounting as a language, Prefigurative politics, Critical thinking, Transformational strategy

How attend this seminar

This seminar will take place on Wednesday 16 October 2024 at 2pm.

We welcome you to join us online.

This seminar is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

Speaker bio

Dr Matthew Sorola

Matthew Sorola is an accounting professor based in Toulouse, France. Originally from Texas, he has spent more than a decade living and working across four continents, providing him with a range of insights into different cultures and causing him to reflect on his own values. The ways in which he approaches his teaching, engagement, and research, reflect these understandings. He has been serving as a Professor in Management Control, Accounting, and Auditing at Toulouse Business School since 2019 and is currently the head of the Accounting, Auditing, and Control laboratory there.