Putting culture at the centre of accounting

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The opportunity

Most accounting departments face familiar constraints: large student cohorts, modular silos, and accreditation requirements that drive curriculums towards technical compliance and standardised assessment. The result? A landscape where undergraduate programmes become virtually indistinguishable. Browse any handful of university websites and the similarity is striking — the same module titles, the same learning outcomes, the same promises to prepare students for professional examinations.

This technical, standardised approach serves the immediate needs of professional accountancy bodies. We do not suggest this is inherently wrong (or worth battling against). Technical knowledge and professional competencies matter. Yet accounting education could offer so much more and give students meaning and purpose for a sustainable society. Beyond technical proficiency lies an opportunity to reconnect students with accounting’s deeper history: its role as a practice of trust, stewardship, relationship building and nurturing social capital.

Of course, we must not and should not abandon rigour, but can we reclaim the human dimensions that make accounting education both distinctive and transformative?

Two ways to create distinctive and transformative programmes

Why accounting education needs rehumanising

Accounting is not just a financial record-keeping system; it is a repository for collective memory, a practice of trust building and evidence of relationships. Its roots are mysterious and complex but include the Mesopotamian temples and medieval monasteries where it developed as a practice of stewardship, rationing resources and community accountability. Yet the modern curriculum increasingly treats it as mechanical compliance with technical standards.

Students graduate technically competent but culturally disconnected. They might be able to prepare financial statements, but struggle to explain why accountability matters to society. They master ratio analysis but cannot imagine accounting as a force for justice or sustainability.

In an age where AI researches, assimilates, calculates, and generates, we are producing graduates who are equipped to measure value but not to create it.

This workshop offers a different path — to focus on what only humans can do: exercise moral judgment, build trust, and create meaning from numbers. It provides an opportunity to honour accounting’s cultural origins while preparing students for a future where human judgment, ethical reasoning, and cultural sensitivity become the profession’s core value proposition. It will be creative, including storytelling, possible field trips and ideas for role-play sessions and an artistic exploration of finance.

What you’ll experience

The morning begins with roots and reckonings. We explore accounting’s cultural, ethical and faith-based origins across civilisations, from ancient India to modern cooperatives. You’ll work in groups to map accounting practices from diverse cultural contexts, asking what we have lost and what we might reclaim. We encourage you to ask students to share their own finance narratives and traditions – to involve and engage them at a deeper level. We then turn a critical eye to contemporary education, analysing excerpts from textbooks and syllabuses to uncover the hidden messages we send about neutrality, compliance, and disconnection.

The afternoon focuses on practices of rehumanisation. Our “un-syllabus” lab session invites you to redesign one module through a lens that embraces student diversity, encourages personal dialogue, and focuses on community values. You’ll work collaboratively to identify what makes your university’s offerings distinctive, moving beyond generic mission statements to discover authentic competitive advantages rooted in place, culture, and values. In the process, you will build collaboration and cooperation in transforming your teaching.

Throughout the day, expect interactive workshops rather than lectures, peer collaboration rather than passive listening, and concrete tools you can implement immediately rather than abstract theories you might forget by Tuesday.

Who should attend

This workshop is for accounting lecturers, course leaders and department heads ready to differentiate their programmes in an increasingly competitive landscape. It resonates with educators interested in ethics, sustainability, and cultural responsiveness who sense that technical competence alone is insufficient preparation for the challenges their students will face.

Departments with diverse student populations will find particular value here, as will institutions emphasising values-based education or exploring interdisciplinary approaches. If you believe accounting education should serve life rather than merely measure it, this workshop offers both philosophical grounding and practical methods to make that vision a reality.

Your facilitators

Professor Atul Shah PhD FCA — Organic Finance

Atul Shah, a multi-award-winning researcher, author and broadcaster. He is author of Celebrating Diversity, Reinventing Accounting and Finance Education, and Organic Finance and blogs at www.atulkshah.co.uk. He has taught at the London School of Economics, University of Bristol, University of Maryland, City University of London, Hult International Business School, Essex University, University of Suffolk and University of Kent.

Toby York FCA — Accounting Cafe

Toby York is a chartered accountant with board-level experience in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He is the Research & Development director at Wealthvox which provides financial education workshops in commercial and academic settings. Toby is also a part-time senior lecturer in accounting at Middlesex University, London. He is a founder of Accounting Cafe and has brought education reform to schools as well as universities.

What you’ll take away

You will create meaningful ways to describe what makes your programmes and teaching distinctive. It will be clear to prospective and existing students what you stand for and why they are committed and engaged.

You will leave with one redesigned module that applies rehumanisation principles to your specific context. A comprehensive toolkit of readings, templates, and exercises accompanies this practical deliverable, alongside connections to a network of like-minded educators grappling with similar challenges.

Beyond the immediate outputs, you gain access to exclusive resources hosted on Accounting Cafe, including a community forum for continued collaboration and follow-up guidance as you implement changes. This is professional development that extends well beyond the workshop itself.

Options

Departmental workshop

Our departmental workshop brings customised delivery directly to your institution. Workshop materials are included. You arrange vthe enue and catering. This option works best with a minimum of 10 participants and allows for maximum contextualisation to your specific institutional culture and student body.

Open workshops

Open workshops take place at regional venues with neighbouring universities as hosts. These sessions provide valuable networking opportunities alongside the core content, creating connections that often prove as valuable as the workshop itself. Materials and facilitation are included, with venues selected for accessibility across the region.

Ready to begin?

This is not another compliance workshop. It is an invitation to reconnect with why you became an educator and to give your students — and yourself — something more meaningful than technical competence alone.

Register your interest and we will let you know the next steps.

Common questions

Is this suitable for finance and data analytics educators? Possibly. The principles of human-centred, culture-based education apply across business disciplines, and we often find the most innovative insights emerge when different specialisms engage with these ideas together. However, the focus for the day centres on an appreciation of accounting as a cultural phenomenon

What if our department is smaller than 10 people? Contact us to discuss options, including the possibility of joining with neighbouring institutions for a shared experience that often proves more enriching than single-department sessions.

Do you provide CPD certification? Yes, we provide certificates of completion for professional development records, structured to meet standard institutional requirements.

What follow-up support is available? Access to our online community, resource library, and ongoing consultation as you implement changes. Many participants find the post-workshop support as valuable as the day itself.

Thinking about it? Let us keep you up to date

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