Accounting Streams takes inspiration from CORE Econ’s pioneering introductory textbook

› Principles of Accounting is launching online on 26 November. Book your free ticket today!

What are the pressing issues in accounting education? Why is there a need for a new approach in accounting education?

Internationally the providers of accounting education have been consistently criticized for the narrow technical focus of accounting programmes and the unquestioning replication of the syllabus provided by professional accounting bodies without much-needed critical reflection.

Calls for change in accounting education are not new, with concerns being raised as far back as the 1980s¹. There have been several past attempts to reform accounting education, yet they have not been impactful².

CORE inspiration

We felt that this situation presented some parallels to economics education, where CORE had successfully established a change agenda. This led to us spending some time with the CORE team understanding the challenges that they sought to address through CORE and how we might facilitate change in accounting education.

At our first tentative workshop at UCL in September 2023, Professor Wendy Carlin presented the CORE project to colleagues and sparked enthusiasm in the assembled group of accounting educators to attempt something similar in accounting.

Why a textbook?

We know that accounting educators act as gatekeepers¹ in relation to how knowledge is presented to students. This is particularly relevant when identifying the primary textbooks that students will follow. This choice is influential, for example in its presentation of financial reporting to stakeholders², management accounting knowledge³, integration of ethical considerations⁴, and in sustaining a dominant Anglo-American and large corporate worldview⁵. Developing a principles-level textbook appeared to be a reasonable first step toward change.

What makes Principles of Accounting different from prior initiatives?

• Timing. The accounting profession is facing continued criticism for its involvement in high-profile corporate failures and ethical breaches in organizations in many countries including, for example, Carillion, Wirecard, and Silicon Valley Bank. It must face the resulting regulatory sanctions and rebuild trust in the profession.
• Disciplinary boundary extension. Financial reporting boundaries are expanding as the accounting profession seeks to incorporate sustainability. This focus on considerations beyond profit motivation is driving changes to the curriculum and creating a need for new teaching materials.
• A contemporary (re)definition of accounting. Principles of Accounting adopts the definition of accounting as ‘a technical, social and moral practice concerned with the sustainable utlilisation of resources and proper accountability to stakeholders to enable the flourishing of organisations, people and nature’⁶.

We are adding to the growing momentum that has been created through an emerging body of research drawing on this wider conceptualization of accounting⁷. The upcoming consultation on the revised accounting and finance subject benchmark statements in the United Kingdom will also seek to catalyse change in accounting education.

As a result, throughout the textbook we challenge readers to cope with uncertainty and we question assumptions commonly made in introductory courses. We include a broader view of organizations, ethics, and sustainability than is commonplace. The intention is to engage students with the inherent dilemmas and tensions that are often overlooked in introductory accounting courses.

What have we learned from CORE?

We know that we cannot make this change alone. We have worked with leading accounting academics to put in place an international advisory group and also with over 30 contributors from more than 20 institutions around the globe to develop the textbook. We remain humbled by the generosity of our colleagues in devoting time and expertise to the project.

We decided to work with the same publisher as CORE because of the functionality of their publishing platform and their reliability. We have not been disappointed. This is no ordinary ebook. It is a digitized resource with videos, links, embedded questions, and reflection points for students.

In common with CORE, we believe that access to quality educational materials should be free and open access. This did result in a requirement for upfront funding of the project and it took some time to convince our universities. CORE’s work gave us an exemplar as we explained how different the textbook would be and its potential to drive meaningful change. Without securing funding, publishing the book would have been even more challenging.

There remains much to do beyond our full launch on 26 November, but we are excited to have started on this journey. We will continue to build the Accounting Streams community of learners and educators and develop the resources to support the textbook.

• The Accounting Streams project is led by Professor Susan Smith, UCL School of Management, Jenni Rose, Alliance Manchester Business School, and Professor Richard Murphy, University of Sheffield.

› The seven preview chapters are available on Accounting Streams.

References

1. See for example, the reports of the Accounting Education Change Commission during the early 1990s, as well as Andersen et al., 1989; Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Behn, Ezzell, Murphy, Stith, Rayburn, & Strawser, 2012; DEET, 1990; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2003; Solomons & Berridge, 1974
2. See for example, Accounting Education Change Commission, 1990; Beford et al., 1986; Behn et al., 2012; Solomons and Berridge, 1974
3. A. Golyagina and D. Valuckas. 2016. ‘Representation of knowledge on some management accounting techniques in textbooks.’ Accounting Education, 25(5), pp. 479-501.
4. B. van der Kolk. 2019. ‘Ethic matters: the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting textbooks.’ Accounting Education, 28(4), pp. 426, 443.
5. Irsyadillah Irsyadillah. 2019. ‘The ideological character of accounting textbooks: Insights from Indonesian accounting lecturers.’ Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, 9(4), pp. 542-566.
6. G. Carnegie, P. Ferri, L. Parker, S. Sidaway, E. Tsahuridu. 2022. ‘Accounting as Technical, Social, and Moral Practice: The Monetary Valuation of Public Cultural, Heritage and Scientific Collections in Financial Reports.’ Australian Accounting Review, 32(4), pp. 460-472.
7. G. Carnegie, D. Gomes, L. Parker, K. McBride an E. Tsahuridu. 2024. ‘How accounting can shape a better world: framework, analysis and research agenda.’ Meditari Accountancy Research, 32(5), pp. 1529-1555.