Exploring "hunhu" as an alternative to Western philosophies in accounting ethics undergraduate curricula in Zimbabwean Universities

Abstract

Accounting scandals that have been experienced at the onset of the 21st century have rekindled interest in accounting ethics education. There is a general consensus on the importance of accounting ethics education. At international level the IFAC prescribes the ethics education for accountants through International Education Standard (IES) 4. The Anglo-American worldview is dominant in accounting ethics education in Zimbabwe and most African countries. Zimbabwean students are denied the right to learn accounting ethics guided by African moral philosophies. This situation is in part explained by colonisation and coloniality that have and continue to side-line indigenous knowledge. The study employs a decoloniality conceptual framework informed by an indigenous worldview to interrogate the dominance of the Anglo-American worldview in accounting ethics. A qualitative survey is employed to explore how accounting ethics is currently taught, what views exist in terms of whether Hunhu should or should not be included in accounting ethics curricula, and how it might be included in light of the ongoing education sector reforms in Zimbabwe. The views of accountants and Hunhu scholars and philosophers were solicited in this regard. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews from 26 participants. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis model was used in conjunction with ATLASti.8 to analyse the transcribed interview data. The study found insignificant teaching of accounting ethics in six of the seven universities sampled. In six of the universities, accounting ethics was integrated in mostly in auditing modules, whereas one university had a standalone module. All participants motivated for the inclusion of Hunhu in accounting ethics curricula though for different reasons. Learning is never on a tabula rasa, argued some participants. Hunhu thus, provides continuity between informal moral education and formal education. Further to that Hunhu answers to the clarion call for decolonisation of curricula across disciplines in Africa. The accounting ethics pedagogy should be based on the African peoples’ philosophy of life such as Hunhu. A popular strategy to decolonise curricula is having Hunhu centred in curricula without sideling other epistemologies. The study recommends further research on the conceptual linkages between accounting premised on capitalism and Hunhu among others.