1 A Commentary on ‘A Role for the Compulsory Study of Literature in Accounting Education’

We share [author]’s enthusiasm for literature. Original and fresh thinking is to be welcomed. We are less convinced by some of [author’s] specific arguments for incorporating literature in accounting education. [author] suggests that interdisciplinary links in education can foster marketable skills in graduates. Teaching literature, s/he argues, addresses the limitations of a technical, skills-based and vocational accounting education which, inter alia, seeks to reduce ambiguity. Literature, on the other hand, exposes students to ambiguity, and engaging with ambiguity encourages innovative, creative and original thinking. We believe that the suggestion that accounting aims to reduce ambiguity is simplistic. Ambiguity is intrinsic to (even) mainstream accounting. Accruals, provisions, asset lives and realisable values, as well as concepts such as materiality, fair value, fair presentation and substance over form are all ambiguous and require judgement. Students learn that different accounting policies and assumptions lead to dramatically different results. Contemporary accounting standards (arguably) involv