Leadership for a Sustainable Tomorrow

Reimagining Chartered Accountancy Education in South Africa

Abstract

Chartered Accountants (CAs) dominate corporate leadership roles in South Africa and hold the capacity to shape economic and social outcomes. South Africa still experiences socio-economic inequality, and in recent corporate governance failures, CAs was involved in decision-making capacity. Given this context, this conceptual study considers the question: How can Chartered Accountant education be reimagined to develop ethically grounded, socially responsible professionals who are equipped to make consequence-aware decisions and to contribute to sustainable value creation and business resilience? Drawing on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy and critical consciousness (Freire 1996), Michel Foucault’s analysis of knowledge and power (Foucault 1977, 1980a, 1980b, 1990, 1995), Carlos Torres’s global citizenship education (Torres 2017), and Yusef Waghid’s ubuntu-inspired deliberative democratic education (Waghid 2018), the article develops an integrated theoretical framework for cultivating a consciousness of socially responsible decision-making within a BCom in Accounting. Using a conceptual-theoretical, qualitative approach, the framework is illustrated through selected examples from the design of a newly developed three-year BCom in Accounting curriculum, including an intentional strategy-and-leadership theme spanning the degree and the integration of professional attributes and values across other delivery themes. The main argument is that accounting education should move beyond a technocratic focus to become a pedagogical site for human transformation, ethical citizenship, and social justice-oriented professional formation.