Accounting 101: redefining accounting for tomorrow

Abstract

ABSTRACT What is accounting today? Are conventional definitions of accounting adequate for the early 2020s? What definition do you teach? Accounting is positioned in this study as not a mere neutral, benign, technical practice. It is also a social practice and moral practice as understood based on the important research of accounting scholars across the past 40 years. The paper supports a new definition of accounting as technical, social and moral practice, proposed by Carnegie, G., Parker, L., & Tsahuridu, E. [(2021a). It’s 2020: what is accounting today? Australian Accounting Review, 31(1), 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12325; (2021b). Redefining accounting for tomorrow. IFAC Knowledge Gateway, April 6. https://www.ifac.org/knowledge-gateway/preparing-future-ready-professionals/discussion/redefining-accounting-tomorrow]. The era of calculative order in which we live is illuminated using a tailored case study on global university rankings, using the lens of the proposed definition of accounting. It is intended to provide a better understanding globally of the effects of accounting emergence and change to both professional accountants and non-accountants. Readers may ask ‘why’? Accounting has not attained its full potential and can contribute to shaping a better world from tomorrow.