ACCOUNTANTS, ECONOMISTS AND NEEDLES (title)
Gerald Vinten (author)
Deputy Principal and Director of Studies, ET hames Graduate School,
277 Cranbrook Road, Ilford, London IGI 4TG, England
Corresponding author: gvinten@hotmail.com (Complete Url address)
ABSTRACT
Accountants may find the journey through the eye of a needle hazardous, since they are
implicated in wealth creation. Although there is evidence of a theological critique of
economics and the world of business, there seems zero supply or demand for extending
this to accountancy. There have been some attempts to provide such broad definitions of
religion that virtually everything is included, and in this vein accountancy would be
included. However this is a skewed and misleading use of language. In a 'secular' age
there remains residual use of religious language, which occasionally infiltrates
accountancy, but only in general metaphorical terms, and never with reference to the
essence of accounting. As notions of corporate governance are app lied to religions,
accountancy has an inevitable role to play, as it does in the accounting for religions. This
is the impact of accounting on religions. What is difficult to divine is any realistic
theologising on accountancy.
Keywords: theology, accountancy, secularism, religions, economics, business ethics
INTRODUCTION Quotation marks used to indicate citation
Longer than 30 words (refer to block citation)
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Christian Bible, New Testament: Matthew
19: 24)....