Question

"Can you imagine accountants as American cowboys of the Wild, Wild West in the 1800s? I can. And they can be dangerous. Yeehaw! Yippee-i-o-i-a!" (Cokins, 2013)

After reading the article, please provide your thoughts and analysis. Do you agree or disagree with the author's arguments?

I belong to the DISAGREEING GROUP.

ARTICLE:

Cokins, G. (2013, March). Cowboy accountants - The lawless frontier.

Answer 1

This is a facinating statement and I read it for the first time on this platform. My instant thought process picturised how a cowboy actually looks like in the wild west regions and on contrast the second thought was, can i fit the accountant into that frame of image.

What transpired was my reaction being majorly No. Though, it is important to reflect that there are indeed few qualities which did match or seemed familiar, but on a overall level, I did not completely agree with the above statement, specially being the fact that I myself, holds the qualification of a chartered accountant.

To being putting my defense for the disagreement, it is important to reflect if there could possibly be various persona available in the field of accountancy before me listing reasons of No.

So, if we study a generic profile of an accountant, we would imagine a mid 40s person, making entries and preparing the financial records. However, thats where the prejudicial imaging is an issue, in current scenario, there are young professional being agile and even questioning the authenticity of the records and also shaping the data in such a manner, that a decision can be taken backed by some statistical logic. And i would like to believe, I also belong to the latter category.

Now since, we are done with our imagination, lets see which points in my opinion could possible refute the above situation:

• Education qualification: Have we ever thought of a cow boy having a master or some high profile degree. I am sure answer would be big NO, while believe it or not, accountants are generally educated. Also, there could be an accountant not having formal education degree, but with time and working, develops a good business analytical skills, while the cowboy remains in the farm tossing the gun
• Society Recognition: Yes, the concept of society giving respect should not be the criteria, but an accountant would always get higher laurels over a cow boy. Cow boy are generally seen as a person with no life goals and more or less a goon in the society.
• Swag and Lifestyle: Being an accountant, it is tough to accept but yes, the swagger and lifestyle of cow boy is always more fashionable and upright in the society while the accountant lives a life which is generally very simple with clothing being usually a formal zone.

However, in my opinion, there is one area wherein both face similar scenario and that would be the monotonous nature of their life. In both cases, the life and work is not dynamic and becomes very monotonous.

Please note there could be more points of agreement or disagreement and there could also be a school of thought placing ques over above mentioned points. Thus, please do not feel agitated if you have some other opinion or points which are not covered.