Five recent developments’ impact on the traditional academic culture of Departments of Accounting at South African universities

摘要

The fact that Departments of Accounting at South African universities, whoseacademic programmes are accredited by the South African Institute of CharteredAccountants (SAICA), have for many years focused primarily only on the academictraining of prospective chartered accountants, has established a culture that isremoved from research, and this is in contrast to the nature of a university. The aim ofthis paper is to evaluate some recent developments in the South African academicenvironment that may promote a research culture and to point out the coercive rolethese developments may play in changing the existing culture of a Department ofAccounting. The study concludes that in view of a list of specific recentdevelopments in the national academic environment, Departments of Accounting willbe forced to change course toward becoming more research oriented. A number ofrecommendations are made to expedite the process.