Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

After Virtue and Accounting Ethics

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue presented a reinterpretation of Aristotelian virtue ethics that is contrasted with the emotivism of modern moral discourse, and provides a moral scheme that can enable a rediscovery and reimagination of a more coherent morality. Since After Virtue’s (AV’s) publication, this scheme has been applied to a variety of activities and occupations, and has been influential in the development of research in accounting ethics. Through a ‘close’ reading of Chaps. 14 and 15 of AV, this paper considers and applies the key concepts of practices, institutions, internal and external goods, the narrative unity of a human life and tradition, and the virtues associated with these concepts. It contributes, firstly, by providing a more accurate and comprehensive application of MacIntyre’s scheme to accounting than that available in the existing literature. Secondly, it identifies areas in which MacIntyre’s scheme supports the existing approach to professional accounting ethics as articulated by the various International Federation of Accountants pronouncements as well as areas in which it provides a critique and challenge to this approach. The application ultimately provides an alternative philosophical perspective through which accounting can be examined and further research into accounting ethics pursued.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. This approach follows Bragues’ (2006) call for greater attention to ‘close’ readings of seminal works in moral philosophy.

  2. Although MacIntyre is not proposing a psychological theory of motivation, there is some similarity between the motivations for pursuing internal and external goods and Deci and Ryan’s (1985) theory of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, where “The most basic distinction is between intrinsic motivation, which refers to doing something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable, and extrinsic motivation, which refers to doing something because it leads to a separable outcome” (Ryan and Deci 2000, p. 55); however, see also Ryan and Deci’s taxonomy of human motivation (2000, p. 61), where some extrinsic motivations may correspond to the pursuit of some internal goods.

  3. He uses an example of a man gardening. Without understanding his intentions (is he gardening in order to reap vegetables or to please his wife), and the setting (is this part of an annual cycle, or marital expectations), we cannot gain a complete understanding of his behaviour.

  4. In this respect, MacIntyre’s philosophy bears similarities with the work of Ricouer (1992) and Taylor (1989); but see Strawson (2004) for a contrary view. See also Christman (2004), Lippitt (2007) and Rudd (2007, 2009) for further discussion and criticism of MacIntyre’s perspective.

  5. Lutz (2012, p. 125) succinctly describes MacIntyre’s concept of tradition as “a final and thorough rejection of individualism”.

  6. MacIntyre’s later work (including Whose Justice? Which Rationality and Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry) pays particular attention to the traditions associated with the practices of ‘rationality’ and ‘moral enquiry’ themselves (see Lutz 2004; Nicholas 2012 for more detailed analyses). See also Knight’s (2008) discussion of MacIntyre’s work as rival to, and extension of other broad traditions in philosophy.

  7. Other pronouncements issued by the IESBA deal with amending particular issues addressed in Parts B and C of the Code (i.e., not the fundamental principles), such as Changes to the Code Addressing Certain Non-Assurance Services Provisions for Audit and Assurance Clients (IESBA 2015). Further guidance provided by the IESBA relates primarily to how the Code should be implemented and interpreted, and does not introduce additional principles or values (IESBA 2010, 2012).

  8. This also has implications for accounting educators, where although there have been calls for greater attention to virtues and character in accounting education, a focus on these three virtues may be more manageable than lengthier lists of virtues (cf. Mintz 1995; Solomon 1992, p. 330).

References

  • Ahmed, K., Alam, K. F., & Alam, M. (1997). An empirical study of factors affecting accounting students’ career choice in New Zealand. Accounting Education, 6(4), 325–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958). Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy, 33(124), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, A. E. (2006). Towards a strong virtue ethics for nursing practice. Nursing Philosophy, 7(3), 110–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, M. B., Ketz, J. E., & Owsen, D. (2003). Ethics education in accounting: Moving toward ethical motivation and ethical behavior. Journal of Accounting Education, 21(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Audi, R. (2012). Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 273–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auyeung, P. A. K., & Sands, J. (1997). Factors influencing accounting students’ career choice: A cross-cultural validation study. Accounting Education, 6(1), 13–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldvinsdottir, G., Burns, J., Nørreklit, H., & Scapens, R. W. (2009). The image of accountants: From bean counters to extreme accountants. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 22(6), 858–882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks, M. (2012). MacIntyre, Bourdieu and the practice of jazz. Popular Music, 31(01), 69–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beadle, R. (2008). Why business cannot be a practice. Analyse und Kritik, 30(1), 229–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beadle, R. (2013). Managerial work in a practice-embodying institution: The role of calling, the virtue of constancy. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(4), 679–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beadle, R., & Knight, K. (2012). Virtue and meaningful work. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 433–450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, W. H., & Demski, J. S. (1974). The nature of financial accounting objectives: A summary and synthesis. Journal of Accounting Research, 12, 170–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borden, S. L. (2007). Journalism as practice: MacIntyre, virtue ethics and the press. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bragues, G. (2006). Seek the good life, not money: The Aristotelian approach to business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 67(4), 341–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, K. B. (1997). Management as a practice: A response to Alasdair MacIntyre. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(8), 825–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burchell, S., Clubb, C., & Hopwood, A. G. (1985). Accounting in its social context: Towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 10(4), 381–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, M., & Flood, B. (2005). A study of accounting students’ motives, expectations and preparedness for higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 29(2), 111–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnegie, G. D., & Napier, C. J. (2010). Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(3), 360–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, C., & Spence, C. (2014). Being a successful professional: An exploration of who makes partner in the Big 4. Contemporary Accounting Research, 31(4), 949–981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (n.d.). Misconduct. Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.cimaglobal.com/Professional-ethics/Conduct/Misconduct/.

  • Christman, J. (2004). Narrative unity as a condition of personhood. Metaphilosophy, 35(5), 695–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chua, W. F. (1986). Radical developments in accounting thought. The Accounting Review, 61(4), 601–632.

    Google Scholar 

  • CPA Australia. (2015). Fit and proper requirement. Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/about-us/member-conduct-and-discipline/fit-and-proper-requirement.

  • Crockett, C. (2008). MacIntyre: From transliteration to translation. Philosophy of Management, 7(1), 45–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De George, R. T. (2010). Business ethics (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dellaportas, S., Kanapathippillai, S., Khan, A., & Leung, P. (2014). Ethics education in the Australian accounting curriculum: A longitudinal study examining barriers and enablers. Accounting Education: An International Journal, 23(4), 362–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dey, C. (2003). Corporate ‘silent’ and ‘shadow’ social accounting. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 23(2), 6–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, J. (2008). Utopia reconsidered: The modern firm as institutional ideal. Philosophy of Management, 7(1), 67–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • du Gay, P. (1998). Alasdair MacIntyre and the Christian genealogy of management critique. Cultural Values, 2(4), 421–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunne, J. (2003). Arguing for teaching as a practice: A reply to Alasdair MacIntyre. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 37(2), 353–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duska, R., Duska, B. S., & Ragatz, J. A. (2011). Accounting ethics (2nd ed.). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. R. (2014). A history of financial accounting. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrero, I., & Sison, A. J. G. (2014). A quantitative analysis of authors, schools and themes in virtue ethics articles in business ethics and management journals (1980–2011). Business Ethics: A European Review, 23(4), 375–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzmaurice, M. (2010). Considering teaching in higher education as a practice. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(1), 45–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foot, P. (1978). Virtues and vices: And other essays in moral philosophy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, J. R. (1990). After virtue? Accounting as a moral and discursive practice. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 3(3), 5–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine, 33.

  • Gaa, J. C. (1994). The ethical foundations of public accounting. Vancouver: CGA-Canada Research Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Global Reporting Initiative (2013). G4 sustainability reporting guidelines. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

  • Grace, D., & Cohen, S. (2013). Business ethics (5th ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, D. E. (2011). The guild of surgeons as a tradition of moral enquiry. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 36(2), 114–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, T. (1997). From complete exclusion to minimal inclusion: African Americans and the public accounting industry, 1965–1988. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 22(1), 29–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, T., Clayton, B. M., & Arnold, P. J. (2009). South Africa’s transition from apartheid: The role of professional closure in the experiences of black chartered accountants. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(6–7), 705–721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, T., Clayton, B. M., & Arnold, P. J. (2012). An “unofficial” history of race relations in the South African accounting industry, 1968–2000: Perspectives of South Africa’s first black chartered accountants. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 23(4–5), 332–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. (1998). The role of character in business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 8(3), 547–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. (2006). Can we teach character? An Aristotelian answer. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 5(1), 68–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. (2008a). Reconciliation in business ethics: Some advice from Aristotle. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(2), 253–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, E. (2008b). Socratic questions and Aristotelian answers: A virtue-based approach to business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(3), 313–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hine, J. A. H. S. (2007). The shadow of MacIntyre’s manager in the Kingdom of Conscience constrained. Business Ethics: A European Review, 16(4), 358–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopper, T. (2013). Cost accounting, control and capitalism. In R. K. Fleischman, W. Funnell, & S. P. Walker (Eds.), Critical histories of accounting: Sinister inscriptions in the modern era. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horngren, C. T., Datar, S. M., Rajan, M. V., Wynder, M., Maguire, W., & Tan, R. (2014). Cost accounting: A managerial emphasis (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest: Pearson Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • IAESB. (2015). Handbook of international education pronouncements. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IESBA. (2010). IESBA staff questions and answers—Implementing the code of ethics—Part I. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IESBA. (2012). IESBA staff questions and answers—Implementing the code of ethics—Part II. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IESBA. (2015). Changes to the code addressing certain non-assurance services provisions for audit and assurance clients. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFAC. (2010). IFAC’s standard-setting public interest activity committees’ due process and working procedures—March 2010. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFAC. (2012). IFAC policy position 5: A definition of the public interest. New York: International Federation of Accountants.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFAC. (2015a). Ethics. Retrieved November 6, 2015, from http://www.ifac.org/global-knowledge-gateway/ethics?discussions.

  • IFAC. (2015b). Organization overview. Retrieved June 25, 2015, from http://www.ifac.org/about-ifac/organization-overview.

  • Keat, R. (2008a). Ethics, markets, and MacIntyre. Analyse und Kritik, 30(1), 243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keat, R. (2008b). Practices, firms and varieties of capitalism. Philosophy of Management, 7(1), 77–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkham, L. M., & Loft, A. (1993). Gender and the construction of the professional accountant. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 18(6), 507–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, K. (2008). After tradition? Heidegger or MacIntyre, Aristotle and Marx. Analyse und Kritik, 30, 33–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. (1995). A role for virtue ethics in the analysis of business practice. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(3), 533–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. (1998). Virtue ethics, the firm, and moral psychology. Business Ethics Quarterly, 8(3), 497–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehn, D. (2013). East meets west: Toward a universal ethic of virtue for global business. Journal of Business Ethics, 116, 703–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambeth, E. B. (1990). Waiting for a New St. Benedict: Alasdair MacIntyre and the theory and practice of journalism. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 5(2), 75–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson, M. S. (1977). The rise of professionalism: A sociological analysis. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. A., & Parker, R. H. (Eds.). (2014). The evolution of corporate financial reporting. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leeper, R. V., & Leeper, K. A. (2001). Public relations as “practice”: Applying the theory of Alasdair MacIntyre. Public Relations Review, 27(4), 461–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehman, C. R. (1992). “Herstory” in accounting: The first eighty years. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17(3–4), 261–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lippitt, J. (2007). Getting the story straight: Kierkegaard, MacIntyre and some problems with narrative. Inquiry, 50(1), 34–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lippman, E. J., & Wilson, P. A. (2007). The culpability of accounting in perpetuating the Holocaust. Accounting History, 12(3), 283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, D. R., & Simons, K. (1997). Factors influencing choice of business majors—Some additional evidence: A research note. Accounting Education, 6(1), 39–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, C. S. (2004). Tradition in the ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, C. S. (2012). Reading Alasdair MacIntyre’s after virtue. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. (1999). Social structures and their threats to moral agency. Philosophy, 74(289), 311–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. (2002). Three perspectives on Marxism: 1953, 1968, 1995. In Ethics and politics: Collected essays. West Nyack, NY: Cambridge University Press.

  • MacIntyre, A. (2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory (3rd ed.). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangham, L. L. (1995). MacIntyre and the manager. Organization, 2(2), 181–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNicholas, P., Humphries, M., & Gallhofer, S. (2004). Maintaining the empire: Maori women’s experiences in the accountancy profession. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15(1), 57–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mele, D. (2005). Ethical education in accounting: Integrating rules, values and virtues. Journal of Business Ethics, 57(1), 97–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mele, D. (2009). Integrating personalism into virtue-based business ethics: The personalist and the common-good principles. Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 227–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michel, A. A. (2011). Psychiatry after virtue: A modern practice in the ruins. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 36(2), 170–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S. (1863). Utilitarianism. London: Parker, Son and Bourn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. M. (1995). Virtue ethics and accounting education. Issues in Accounting Education, 10(2), 247–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. M. (1996). Aristotelian virtue and business ethics education. Journal of Business Ethics, 15, 827–838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. M. (2006). Accounting ethics education: Integrating reflective learning and virtue ethics. Journal of Accounting Education, 24(2–3), 97–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. M. (2010). Linking virtue to representational faithfulness in making judgments in a principles-based environment. Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting, 14, 113–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishina, Y., Dykes, B. J., Block, E. S., & Pollock, T. G. (2010). Why “Good” firms do bad things: The effects of high aspirations, high expectations, and prominence on the incidence of corporate illegality. Academy of Management Journal, 53(4), 701–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moerman, L., & van der Laan, S. (2015). Exploring shadow accountability: The case of James Hardie and Asbestos. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 35(1), 32–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2002). On the implications of the practice-institution distinction: MacIntyre and the application of modern virtue ethics to business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 12(1), 19–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2005a). Corporate character: Modern virtue ethics and the virtuous corporation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(4), 659–685.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2005b). Humanizing business: A modern virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(2), 237–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2008). Re-imagining the morality of management: A modern virtue ethics approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 483–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2012a). Virtue in business: Alliance boots and an empirical exploration of MacIntyre’s conceptual framework. Organization Studies, 33(3), 363–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (2012b). The virtue of governance, the governance of virtue. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22(2), 293–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G., & Beadle, R. (2006). In search of organizational virtue in business: Agents, goods, practices, institutions and environments. Organization Studies, 27(3), 369–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nash, L. L. (1995). Whose character? A response to Mangham’s ‘MacIntyre and the Manager’. Organization, 2(2), 226–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholas, J. L. (2012). Reason, tradition and the good: MacIntyre’s tradition-constituted reason and Frankfurt School critical theory. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (2003). Is teaching a practice? Journal of Philosophy of Education, 37(2), 241–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pakaluk, M., & Cheffers, M. (2011). Accounting ethics. Sutton, MA: Allen David Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association and New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Picard, C.-F., Durocher, S., & Gendron, Y. (2014). From meticulous professionals to superheroes of the business world. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 27(1), 73–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pong, C., & Mitchell, F. (2005). Accounting for a disappearance: A contribution to the history of the value added statement in the UK. The Accounting Historians Journal, 32(2), 173–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston, A. M., Cooper, D. J., Scarbrough, D. P., & Chilton, R. C. (1995). Change in the code of ethics in the U.S. Accounting Profession, 1917 and 1988: The continual quest for legitimation. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 20(6), 507–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randels, G. D. (1995). Morality and the manager after MacIntyre: A response to Mangham. Organization, 2(2), 205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J., Narvaez, D., Bebeau, M. J., & Thoma, S. J. (1999). Postconventional moral thinking: A Neo-Kohlbergian approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, F. C. (2012). On psychology and virtue ethics. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 32(1), 24–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricouer, P. (1992). Oneself as another (K. Blamey, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Robinson, L. E. (1991). The time has come to report comprehensive income. Accounting Horizons, 5(2), 107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Royston, G., Suddaby, R., & Hinings, C. R. (2002). Theorizing change: The role of professional associations in the transformation of institutionalized fields. The Academy of Management Journal, 45(1), 58–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudd, A. (2007). Kierkegaard, MacIntyre and narrative unity—Reply to Lippitt. Inquiry, 50(5), 541–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudd, A. (2009). In defence of narrative. European Journal of Philosophy, 17(1), 60–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 54–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salter, L. (2008). The goods of community? The potential of journalism as a social practice. Philosophy of Management, 7(1), 33–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sellman, D. (2000). Alasdair MacIntyre and the professional practice of nursing. Nursing Philosophy, 1(1), 26–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sellman, D. (2011). What makes a good nurse: Why the virtues are important for nurses. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sison, A. J. G. (2008). Corporate governance and ethics: An Aristotelian perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C. (1992). Corporate roles, personal virtues: An Aristotelean approach to business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2(3), 317–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C. (2003). Victims of circumstances? A defense of virtue ethics in business. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(1), 43–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C. (2004). Aristotle, ethics and business organizations. Organization Studies, 25(6), 1021–1043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, C., & Brivot, M. (2011). ‘No French, no more’: Language-based exclusion in North America’s first professional accounting association, 1879–1927. Accounting History Review, 21(2), 163–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, C., & Carter, C. (2014). An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms. Work, Employment and Society, 28(6), 946–962.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strawson, G. (2004). Against narrativity. Ratio, 17(4), 428–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tricker, R. I. (1990). The corporate concept: Redesigning a successful system. Human Systems Management, 9(2), 65–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uysal, Ö. Ö. (2010). Business ethics research with an accounting focus: A bibliometric analysis from 1988 to 2007. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(1), 137–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cauwenberge, P., & De Beelde, I. (2007). On the IASB comprehensive income project: An analysis of the case for dual income display. Abacus, 43(1), 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, B. (1972). Morality: An introduction to ethics. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willmott, H., & Sikka, P. (1997). On the commercialization of accountancy thesis: A review essay. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 22(8), 831–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Accountancy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Andrew West

Authors
  1. Andrew West
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew West.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

West, A. After Virtue and Accounting Ethics. J Bus Ethics 148, 21–36 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3018-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3018-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation