Lessons we never wanted to learn: pandemic as pedagogy

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is a reflective account in which one person who has been around long enough to see a good bit considers how COVID-19 might change the general contours of the world. Design/methodology/approach - This paper follows a broadly based and relatively unstructured approach, based on personal understandings and whatever rigor might have been gained by a life spent thinking about research design and the limits of methodology. Findings - The opposite of what many others believe will happen is argued for. Things will change more than we wish. Most will change for the worse. Research limitations/implications - Accounting research will have a role to play, but to have impact, this study will require that researchers adopt a much more critical perspective about capitalism and its consequences than before. Practical implications - Everyone must do the best they can. Everyone must learn to accept the new and not rage to restore that which existed in before times. Social implications - Harsher climate of interpersonal relations will be realized. Originality/value - This paper is more about change than about accounting. A 30,000-foot level analysis that does not try to provide many examples. An effort to rise above the specifics that vary across the world.