Beyond Vocationalism: Toward a Phenomenologically Informed Framework for Accounting Education

Abstract

The humanistic perspective has been at the heart of accounting’s struggle to identify itself as an academic discipline and also an integral part of all influential models for redirecting accounting higher education in the U.S. The most recent attempt in developing curricular recommendations for accounting education – the integrated competency-based framework (Lawson et al. 2014, 2015) – seems to disregard this tradition. By leaving the conceptual foundations of accounting education unexamined, the framework implies a sole commitment to preparing graduates for employment, without a single reference to personal values and commitment, beyond their vocational relevance. This article argues that too single-minded a focus on the vocational is flawed for four reasons. First, the philosophical underpinnings of vocationalism are at odds with the intrinsic values of education. Second, vocationalism alienates accounting from academic traditions. Third, this focus does not correspond to the educational developments in the other learned professions. Fourth, vocationalism has only a slight potential to solve the issues facing the profession and its education.Following the notion that curriculum issues are deeply rooted in philosophy, this paper suggests a novel approach to accounting education that rests on phenomenology. This philosophy of education explains the need for a broader, fundamental goal for accounting higher education and calls for a commitment to three educational priorities. The article initiates a discussion on how these priorities might be incorporated into the accounting education model and how they might contribute to overcoming its vocational weaknesses. That is, how the recent competency-based framework could be enhanced to become a broader phenomenologically informed one.