You reap what you sow: the ethical discourse of professional accounting☆

Abstract In this essay I argue that some of the responsibility for the recent accounting scandals (e.g., Enron, Andersen) lies with scholars and teachers of accounting. Utilizing the theory of shared professional responsibility developed by Larry May (1992), I argue that the accounting academy’s search for scientific respectability has had the consequence of destroying our ability as a discipline to have the shared values required to prevent Enron’s and Andersen’s from occurring. The ascendance of Positive Economic Science as the monolithic paradigm of accounting scholarship has deprived us of any coherent ethical discourses with which to make judgements about the “propriety” of professional behavior. Constructing such a discourse is now a primary responsibility of the academy.