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Accounting, ethics and human existence: Lightly unbearable, heavily kitsch

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  • Boyce, Gordon

Abstract

This paper offers a critical examination of the interrelationship between accounting, ethics, and the question of the meaning of human existence. Starting with a critique of the approach, data and method in Everett & Tremblay (2014), I broadly consider how different approaches to ethics and morality within capitalist markets play out. Drawing on the work of Milan Kundera, and briefly considering perspectives on the WorldCom fraud, I consider how the themes of lightness, weight, and kitsch are emblematic of many approaches to ethics within accounting.

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  • Boyce, Gordon, 2014. "Accounting, ethics and human existence: Lightly unbearable, heavily kitsch," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 197-209.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:25:y:2014:i:3:p:197-209
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2013.10.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gordon Boyce & Susan Greer & Bill Blair & Cindy Davids, 2012. "Expanding the Horizons of Accounting Education: Incorporating Social and Critical Perspectives," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 47-74, April.
    2. Burrell Nickell, Erin & Roberts, Robin W., 2014. "Organizational legitimacy, conflict, and hypocrisy: An alternative view of the role of internal auditing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 217-221.
    3. Everett, Jeff & Tremblay, Marie-Soleil, 2014. "Ethics and internal audit: Moral will and moral skill in a heteronomous field," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 181-196.
    4. Boyce, Gordon & Greer, Susan, 2013. "More than imagination: Making social and critical accounting real," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 105-112.
    5. Lehman, Glen, 2014. "Moral will, accounting and the phronemos," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 210-216.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lucian Cernușca & Bogdan Cosmin Gomoi, 2015. "A professional accountants and managers’ point of view on elaborating and grounding the accounting policies," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 15(1), pages 59-70.
    2. Everett, Jeff & Tremblay, Marie-Soleil, 2014. "On hypocrisy, the phronemos, and kitsch: A reply to our commentators," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 222-225.
    3. Panagiotis M. Kyriakogkonas, 2017. "Exploring the Usefulness of Codes of Ethics in the Postmodern Era through Transmodernism: Evidence from an Internal Audit Professional Body," Eastern European Business and Economics Journal, Eastern European Business and Economics Studies Centre, vol. 3(3), pages 223-244.
    4. Francois Steyn & Kosheek Sewchurran, 2021. "Towards a Grainier Understanding of How to Encourage Morally Responsible Leadership Through the Development of Phronesis: A Typology of Managerial Phronesis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 673-695, May.
    5. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2017. "A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 88-109.
    6. Burrell Nickell, Erin & Roberts, Robin W., 2014. "Organizational legitimacy, conflict, and hypocrisy: An alternative view of the role of internal auditing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 217-221.
    7. Herbei (Mot) Ioana & Cernusca Lucian, 2015. "Perceptions Regarding Treatments And Creative Accounting Policies," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 2, pages 173-187, April.

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