Class, social deprivation and accounting education in Scottish schools: Implications for the reproduction of the accounting profession and practice

McPhail, Ken; Paisey, Catriona; Paisey, Nicholas Julian

doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2009.08.003

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Accounting research has identified the accountancy profession as a social space (McPhail et al 2010, Duff 2017. Within the field of accounting, however, differences have been found between Big Four and other accounting firms (Empson 2004), suggesting that within a field, there can exist subfields each possessing slightly different characteristics.…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In accounting, the lower scores on measures of cultural capital recognised by recruiters of Chinese accounting graduates in Australia placed them at a disadvantage in the recruitment market despite them possessing other forms of cultural capital, such as language skills and knowledge of Chinese business culture that were lacking in white Australian graduates (James and Otsuka 2009). Cultural capital has also been identified in a variety of forms including speech and dress (Haynes 2012), taste, expertise and soft skills and the possession of prestigious qualifications (Anderson-Gough et al 2001, McPhail et al 2010. Duff (2017) shows that the Big Four's desire to recruit the most talented individuals is both part of their construction of reputational capital and a recognition that these individuals need to pass the demanding professional examinations.…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deprivation, social class and social mobility at Big Four and non-Big Four firms

Paisey

Tarbert

et al. 2019

Accounting and Business Research

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Using the work of Bourdieu and Savage, this paper investigates social class and social mobility among chartered accountants who qualified with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in 2009. We find that these accountants tend to come from privileged backgrounds and that those who qualified with Big Four firms possess more economic, social and cultural capital than those who qualify with other firms. Our study provides fresh insights into how elements of social class interact with social background. In contrast with the prevailing view that there is limited social mobility in the accountancy profession, we find some evidence of social mobility, suggesting that current debates are based on contestable assumptions. We also find that chartered accountants from more deprived backgrounds as indicated by childhood postcode often have a father who has a professional or managerial occupation, so are not deprived on all measures. Where those from more deprived backgrounds accessed chartered accountancy careers, this was at the expense of people whose parents held lower rather than higher professional or managerial jobs. This suggests that the most advantaged maintain access to chartered accountancy but those from more middling professional homes are displaced when those from more deprived backgrounds gain access.

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Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Deprivation, social class and social mobility at Big Four and non-Big Four firms

Paisey

Tarbert

et al. 2019

Accounting and Business Research

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“…The manner in which this contest is conducted is referred to as practice. Accounting can be thought of as a field in a Bourdieusian sense reflecting its differentiation from other fields by processes of legitimation (Bourdieu, 1998) and has been applied in the social dynamics of the accounting profession (Lee, 1995(Lee, , 2001McPhail et al, 2010).…”

Section: Bourdieusian Social Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession in the UK

Duff

2017

AAAJ

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Social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession in the United Kingdom:Evidence from Big Four and mid-tier firms Abstract Purpose. This paper considers how Big Four and mid-tier accountancy firms in the United Kingdom (UK) are responding to political concerns about social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession.Design/methodology/approach. Interviews were undertaken with 18 public accountancy firms, ranked in the Top 30 by fee income, operating in the UK to identify how they are recruiting staff in the light of the Fair Access to the Professions' agenda. Bourdieusian sociology is used to inform the findings. Findings. The Big Four firms employ a discourse of hiring 'the brightest and the best' to satisfy perceived client demand, where symbolic capital is instantiated by reputational capital, reflecting prestige and specialisation, supported by a workforce with elite credentials. For mid-tier firms, reputational capital is interpreted as the need for individuals to service a diverse client portfolio. In general, most interviewees demonstrated relatively limited awareness of the issues surrounding the Fair Access agenda. Research implications/limitations. The interviews with accountancy firms are both exploratory and cross-sectional. Furthermore, the study was undertaken at an embryonic point (2010) in the emerging Fair Access discourse. Future work considering the accountancy profession could usefully examine if, and how, matters have progressed. Social implications. The investigation finds accountancy firms remain relatively socially exclusive, largely due to the requirement for high educational entry standards, and interviewees' responses indicate generally only limited attempts at engagement with political agendas of promoting Fair Access to the profession.Originality/value. The paper: is the first to empirically evaluate how the accountancy profession is responding to the Fair Access agenda; documents changing patterns of recruitment in accountancy employment, including the hiring of non-graduates to undertake professional work; and augments the literature considering social class and accounting. investment banking with 1,800 positions). The importance of accountancy to the graduate employment market cannot be understated. At the same time, the accountancy industry in the UK is recruiting increased numbers of school-leavers either to: a professional traineeship or to a technician level qualification followed by professional qualification. Higher education no longer provides the sole entry route to UK chartered accountancy today.A vigorous political debate surrounding widening access to higher education and the professions has taken place (e.g. Clegg

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“…Institutional forms relate to acquired 'assets' such as educational qualifications and the power that they bring within a field; cultural capital is field/context specific. For a discussion see Cook et al, 2012Cook et al, : 1748McPhail et al, 2010;Willis, 1977;Waters, 2006 and2007. 2 See Tomlinson et al 2013 for the effect of capital as regards promotion in a UK context and Gorman and Kay 2014 for a US context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Access to a career in the legal profession in England and Wales

Webley¹,

Tomlinson²,

Muzio³

et al. 2016

Diversity in Practice

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Much attention is currently focused on equality and diversity within the legal profession in England and Wales, not least because the profile of law graduates has markedly changed and diversified over the past 20 years, and yet the senior legal profession has yet to reflect the increasing number of women and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) entrants over that period. A body of previous research evidence from around the UK indicates that social educational background has a major role to play in the extent to which aspiring lawyers gain entry into, progress, and succeed within the legal profession (Shiner, 1994;Shiner et al. 1999;Shiner et al., 2000;Nicolson, 2005;Thomas, 2000, Sommerlad, 2008 (Sommerlad et al., 2010). In that study we used biographical interviews (77)

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Class, social deprivation and accounting education in Scottish schools: Implications for the reproduction of the accounting profession and practice

Cited by 23 publications

References 52 publications

Deprivation, social class and social mobility at Big Four and non-Big Four firms

Deprivation, social class and social mobility at Big Four and non-Big Four firms

Social mobility and Fair Access to the accountancy profession in the UK

Access to a career in the legal profession in England and Wales

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