Theodoric of Triple-A-Ville, accounting professor: a one-act play for a doctoral seminar

A positivist methodological perspective that emphasises quantitative methods and is incapable of addressing complex social issues overwhelmingly characterises the body of literature published in mainstream accounting journals. The US system of graduate education in accounting is, in large part, responsible for the homogeneity of this paradigm and for the absence of any theoretical creativity and/or methodological innovation in accounting scholarship. Large accounting PhD programs have seized control of research activities by instituting restrictive norms, by creating barriers to intellectual dialogue, by exploiting the reward structures used to influence conformity, and by siphoning financial resources from major accounting firms to fund their mainstream research activities. This paper presents a script – based on an old Saturday Night Live skit – for use in a doctoral seminar as a 'launching point' for exploring perspectives other than the mainstream paradigm and poses a series of questions to facilitate discussion among the seminar participants.