CSPGAP staff profile

Professor Ken J. McPhail

Head (Department of Accounting)

Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

La Trobe Business School
Department of Accounting

Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BS (Hons), PhD

Area of study

Accounting

Brief profile

 

Ken was appointed Professor of Accounting at La Trobe in September 2010.  Prior to this he was professor of Social and Ethical Accounting at the University of Glasgow, a position he held since 2004.  He joined Glasgow in 1996 after completing his PhD at the University of Dundee, under the supervision of Prof. Rob Gray.  Ken is on the editorial board of Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal and Critical Perspectives on Accounting.  He is a co-editor of the Journal of Business Ethics Education and Sustainability, Accountability, Management, and Practice Journal. He has held an Honorary Professorship at Deakin University from February 2006 and sat on the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland’s Ethics Committee prior to moving to Melbourne.  Ken’s research interests lie principally in the area of accounting and business ethics, a topic on which he has lectured and published widely. Amongst his current projects are a special issue on Accounting and Human Rights for the journal Critical Perspectives on Accounting, which wil be published in 2011.  Ken will be delivering the CPA Australia Kate Stanton 2011 Annual Research Lecture on the topic of Accounting & Human Rights.

Research interests

Business ethics/ Corporate Social Responsibility

- Corporate Accountabiltiy & Human Rights

- Human Rights & Sustainability

- The Globalisation of Professional Bodies & The Public Interest

Social, environmental and sustainable management and reporting, environmental performance, business ethics, corporate accountability and human rights

- Please contact me to discuss a topic.

Teaching units

ACC3 IAC - International Accounting

ACC5 RMA - Research Methodologies in Accounting

 

Recent publications

 

McPhail, K. 2011 “A Review of The Emergence of Post-Secular Critical Accounting and a Provocation from Radical Orthodoxy.” Critical Perspectives in Accounting 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.01.007 

McPhail, K., Paisey, C. and Paisey, N., 2010, "Class, social deprivation and accounting education in Scottish schools: implications for the reproduction of the accounting profession and practice", 21(1) 31-50. Critical Perspectives on Accounting,

McPhail, K., Paisey, C. and Paisey, N., 2010, "Accounting at school: The impact of policy, teachers and class on the ethical construction of accounting & business in Scottish secondary schools", The International Journal of Critical Accounting. Vol.2 No.3  pp.289-318.

McPhail, K. 2010, “Board Diversity, the Logic of Difference & the Logic of Equivalence: A Critical Study of the Emergence of Corporate Democracy” The Spanish Accounting Review 2010 Vol.13 no.1.pp.125-144

McPhail, K., 2010, "Professions, integrity and the regulatory relationship: defending & reconceptualising principles based regulation & associational democracy", in The future of financial regulation, MacNeil, I. and OBrien, J., eds., Ashgate.

McPhail, K., 2010, "Management ethics, contemporary contexts: book review", The European Accounting Review . Vol.20 no.2. pp.378-385.

Campbell, D., McPhail, K. and Slack, R., 2009, "Face work in annual reports: a study of the management of encounter through annual reports, informed by Levinas and Bauman", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 907-932.,

Kreander, N., Beattie, V. and McPhail, K., 2009, "Putting our money where their mouth is: alignment of charitable aims with charity investments - tensions in policy and practice", British Accounting Review, vol. 41, no. 3, September, pp. 154-168. Best Paper Award for 2009,

McPhail, K., 2009, "Where is the ethical knowledge in the knowledge economy?: Power and potential in the emergence of ethical knowledge as a component of intellectual capital", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 20, no. 7, October, pp. 804-822.

McPhail, K. and Walters, D., 2009, Accounting & Business Ethics: An Introduction, Routledge.

McLean, S. and McPhail, K., 2008, "More law and ethics learning needed", The Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 280, no. 7487, February, pp. 122-122.

McPhail, K., 2007, "Interdisciplinary perspectives on professional Ethics and some thoughts on social network analysis", Journal of Business Ethics Education, vol. 4, pp. 97-102.

McPhail, K., 2007, "Professional anxiety, deliberative democracy and ethics education", Journal of Business Ethics Education, vol. 4, pp. 127-134. 

McPhail, K., 2006, Ethics and the individual professional accountant: a literature review, ICAS, Edinburgh.

Kreander, N., Beattie, V. and McPhail, K., 2006, UK charity ethical investment: policy, practice and disclosure (RR 97), ACCA.

McPhail, K., 2006, "Going public: a brief note on civilising accounting education", Business Ethics: A European Review, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 306-309.

McPhail, K.J: 2006, ‘Challenges in the Enron Context’, CA Magazine January pp15.

McPhail, K.(2005) Care in the community: professional ethics and the paradox of Pro Bono. Accounting Education: An International Journal 14 (2)pp 213-227

McPhail, K., Gray, R. and Gorringe, T.(2005) Crossing the great divide: Critiquing the sacred secular dichotomy in accounting research. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability 18 (2)pp 185-188

McPhail, K.(2005) Ethics, Organisation & Control.Basingstoke1403935351Palgrave MacmillanIn, Berry, A. Broadbent, J. and Otley, D. (Eds) Management Control Theories: Issues and Performance

McPhail, K.J., Gorringe, T. & R.H. Gray, 2004, ‘Accounting And Theology: An Introduction. Initiating a Dialogue Between Immediacy and Eternity.’ Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 17(3), 320-326.

Kreander, N., McPhail, K.J. & D, Molyneaux, 2004, ‘God’s Fund Managers: A Critical Study of Stock Market Investment Practices of The Church of England and UK Methodists.’ Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal, 17(3), 408-441.

Adams, C.A. & McPhail, K.J. 2004, ‘Reporting And The Politics Of Difference: (Non) Disclosure On Ethnic Minorities’, ABACUS. 40(3), 405-435.

McPhail, K.J. 2004, ‘An Emotional Response To The State of Accounting Education: Developing Accounting Students’ Emotional Intelligence.’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15(4-5), 629-648.

McPhail, K.J. 2003, ‘Building A Tender Nation: Developing a WEB Based Accounting & Business Ethics Community.’ Journal of Business Ethics 48(1), 65-74.

McPhail, K.J. 2003 ‘Relocating Accounting & Business Ethics: Reflections on a Business Ethics Retreat in Scotland’s National Park.’ British Accounting Review 35(4), 367-384.

McPhail, K.J. 2002 ‘Using Porridge to Teach Business Ethics: Reflections on a Visit to Scotland’s most Notorious Prison and Some Thoughts on the Importance of Location in Teaching Business Ethics’, Journal of Teaching Business Ethics*, 6/3, 355-369.

McPhail, K.J. 2001. ‘The Dialectic of Accounting Education: From role identity to ego identity’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 12, 471-500.

McPhail, K.J. 2001, ‘The Ethical Challenges of Globalisation: Critical Reflections on the ISBEE 2nd World Congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil’, Business Ethics: A European Review, 10, 78-82.

McPhail, K.J. 2001 ‘The Other Objective of Ethics Education: Rehumanising the Accounting Profession: A Study of Ethics Education in Law, Engineering, Medicine and Accountancy’, Journal of Business Ethics, 34 (3/4), 279-298.

McPhail, K.J.: 1999, ‘The Threat of Ethical Accountants: An Application of Foucault’s Concept of Ethics to Accounting Education and Some Thoughts on Ethically Educating For The Other’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting 10, 833-866.

Gray, R.H. Bebbington, J and K. McPhail: 1994, ‘Teaching Ethics And The Ethics Of Teaching: Educating For Immorality And A Possible Case For Social And Environmental Accounting.’ Accounting Education 3, 51-75. Best paper 1994

 

Research projects

Along with Dr John McKernan of the University of Glasgow I am currently in the final stages of editing a special issue of the journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting on Accounting & Human Rights.

I have just completed a funded project looking at shifting notions of profesisonalism within a large multinational professional body.