Alternative Perspectives on Accounting in the Public Interest

Similar to other professional groups, the accounting profession has asserted that it serves the ‘public interest’. However, the definition of exactly what constitutes the ‘public interest’ has been subject to considerable debate and there is no general agreement on its meaning. The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate that there have been and continue to be differing perspectives regarding accounting in the public interest. For example, during the last 30 years, the interpretive and critical strands of the academic accounting literature have contributed various reflections regarding the co-opting of accounting rhetoric, philosophical perspectives, and discourse in an age of neoliberalism. A lack of similar research in the ‘mainstream’ accounting literature may indicate that there is a lack of interest regarding accounting in the public interest on the part of mainstream researchers. However, one reason for this difference may involve the definition of the ‘public interest’. This chapter seeks to examine these alternative perspectives on accounting in the public interest.