Identity, Variety and Destiny in Accounting Education for a Social—Environmental and Liberal Arts Tradition

Abstract

When one considers that all profits are not made equally, philosophy, history, anthropology 
become pre-requisites for professional accounting and finance graduates. This allows for a 
complete understanding of an intimately related financial market that exerts tremendous influ
ence on socio-economic conditions. A graduate from a liberal arts institution may be worth 
more than what his or her academic balance sheet shows.  A liberal arts education teaches one 
how to think, how to analyze, how to read, how to write, how to develop a persuasive argu
ment.  Any liberal arts education, even vaguely defined becomes an intellectual antidote to the 
overwhelming flood of information and technological change.  A liberal arts education teaches 
students to read and to reason; to learn something about the range of human expression; to con
sider the great literature and ideas of world civilizations; to recognize and construct arguments; 
and to have sensitivity towards others’ thinking.  It also makes possible a genuine kind of citi
zenship without which democracy and markets crumble. This study presents emerging trends in 
accounting as a growing discipline in liberal arts institutions whose mission is aligned with 
social goals.