‘We Can Help!’ Stories of Professional Accountants’ Quest for Social Worth

The commercialization of the accounting profession has been widely criticized, raising questions about its commitment to serving the public interest. This study nuances these critiques by focusing on professional accountants for whom altruism is a core value. Specifically, we examine the process by which individual accountants attempt to embody altruism by volunteering in accounting humanitarian missions. We theorize accountants’ desire to incarnate altruism as a significance quest in which they attempt to boost their social worth. Through a case study of two humanitarian missions, we uncover how volunteer accountants approached the missions with educational aspirations, wishing to embody altruism by sharing their knowledge. They faced challenges that shaped the situated possibilities of their missions and clashed with their aspirations. To navigate the resulting tensions, they mobilized different means that revealed the difficulties of embodying altruism and the fragility with which it can be accomplished. Our study highlights individual manifestations of altruism and offers a nuanced view of professionals’ understanding of altruism. It also broadens the horizons of how accountants can act in the public interest and integrate social considerations into their practice. Finally, it provides conceptual tools to further understand how accountants can contribute to (or detract from) social issues.