A Rejoinder to ‘Professionalizing Claims and the State of UK Professional Accounting Education: Some Evidence’

Abstract

In response to the nine Commentaries on our original paper (Sikka et al., this issue), this Rejoinder responds to two themes: the politics of professional education, and accounting ethics. We argue that the contents of accounting education are shaped by a particular kind of politics, which privileges technicist rationality. In addition, we pose some questions about the accountancy profession's claims to be advancing ethical conduct by briefly focusing upon its own domestic and foreign interventions.

Notes

1. BAAEC operated as a subsidiary of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB). It was disbanded in April 2001. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) had withdrawn many years earlier. Since the demise of BAAEC, each accountancy body is responsible for its own accreditation programme.

2. This is consistent with Education Standard 7 (IES 7) issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). IFAC is a private body has no democratic mandate to set standards or impose costs on anyone.

3. http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2150979/acca-student-numbers-top (accessed on 4 March 2006).