Charting futures: Understanding anticipatory professional socialisation practices of prospective accountants within Higher Education

Aziz, D., Stoner, G. and Favotto, A. (2024) Charting futures: Understanding anticipatory professional socialisation practices of prospective accountants within Higher Education. Accounting Education, (doi: 10.1080/09639284.2024.2327633) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Drawing on Bourdieu’s sociological framework, this study examines how prospective accountants engage with professional socialisation opportunities within the accounting higher education field. Prospective accountants globally experience anticipatory professional socialisation through which they develop employability skills and shape their professional trajectories. Through interviews with Malaysian prospective accountants and insights from local accounting professionals and academics, this study reveals that the prospective accountants’ professional socialisation practice is not solely a conscious and deliberate process. Instead, it involves ongoing negotiation between an individual’s habitus (way of being), capital (resources), and the opportunities that the accounting higher education field offers to them. The findings also highlight the ways in which an individual’s way of being is influenced by their class and ethnic background, and how this impacts their socialisation and career orientations. Individuals from privileged backgrounds tend to possess greater cultural and social capital, positioning them advantageously to benefit from professional development opportunities provided by their institutions compared to those from less privileged backgrounds. These findings raise questions about the role of higher education institutions in promoting equity and expanding access to the accountancy profession for underprivileged groups.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: This work was supported by University of Glasgow.
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Stoner, Professor Greg and Favotto, Dr Alvise
• Authors: Aziz, D., Stoner, G., and Favotto, A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
• Journal Name: Accounting Education
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0963-9284
• ISSN (Online): 1468-4489
• Published Online: 15 March 2024
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Accounting Education 2024
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy