Accounting, ethics and human existence: Lightly unbearable, heavily kitsch

Gordon Boyce

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, 2014, vol. 25, issue 3, 197-209

Abstract: This paper offers a critical examination of the interrelationship between accounting, ethics, and the question of the meaning of human existence. Starting with a critique of the approach, data and method in Everett & Tremblay (2014), I broadly consider how different approaches to ethics and morality within capitalist markets play out. Drawing on the work of Milan Kundera, and briefly considering perspectives on the WorldCom fraud, I consider how the themes of lightness, weight, and kitsch are emblematic of many approaches to ethics within accounting.

Keywords: Critique; Éthique; Crítica; Ética; Critical; Ethics; Morality; Accounting profession; Existence; Internal audit; Kitsch; Lightness; Milan Kundera; Whistleblowing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:25:y:2014:i:3:p:197-209

DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2013.10.001

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