Sitting in some conferences recently, the discussion has me thinking about the story we tell as a discipline. Certainly, a big part of the well-documented pipeline issues in the discipline is that we have been telling a poor story. I see this from two angles. First, is so many accountants telling a story that the only path to be an accountant is the CPA/public accounting track. I think it alienates so many students who don't aspire to start their career in audit or tax.
In contrast, I also think we tell a poor story being overly confrontational from the cost/managerial side of the discipline. We've critiqued the discipline for not being adequate business partners and stuck in the past for decades. The critique does not seem to have moved the needle all that much.
My interest here is not to critique the validity of either story, but to wonder, is the conflict itself harmful to the profession? Are we alienating and pushing away new entrants to the discipline, both public and corporate? How do we develop a cohesive story of the discipline to present to students?
JP ... All good questions. I am not an academic faculty member or have a PhD, but I have opinions about what you wrote. I am a practitioner.
I am unsure what a "cohesive story of the discipline" should be. But what I know from my career (e.g., a manufacturing division financial controller and 30+ years consulting with Deloitte, KPMG, EDS, and SAS) is that management accounting is fun and rewarding.
I enjoyed fulfillment by providing executives, line managers, and employee teams with useful information for the insights to make better decisions. As a management accountant one can "bring value" to an organization and facilitate improving their organization's operational and financial performance. That fulfillment is rewarding and builds self-esteem. This message should be shared with students. ... Gary ... Gary Cokins