Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the roles of accounting for university survival, recovery and revolution from the COVID-19 pandemic. It constructively critiques the use of compliance and cost-centric accounting to inform crisis response and proposes roles for accounting to better serve decision-making in a crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper discusses limitations about how accounting information was used in a university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes potential roles for accounting across crisis phases. These proposals recognise requirements arising from the university’s regulatory environment and apply concepts from intellectual capital accounting and service-dominant logic.

Findings

This paper proposes that in the survival phase, accounting can mitigate rash responses by clarifying the crisis’s impact and stakeholder alignment. In the recovery phase, accounting can inform resourcing decisions by balancing signals from accounting about staff expense and capital investment. In the revolution phase, accounting helps develop the business models needed to adapt to changing student needs, hybrid teaching delivery and importance of intellectual capital.

Research limitations/implications

The case study discusses the early stages of a university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not provide a comprehensive analysis of success or failure of accounting in a crisis. The case raises directions for accounting to clarify the ambiguities in objectives and cause-and-effect relationships from the pandemic.

Practical implications

This paper proposes actions for accounting to support the survival, recovery and revolution of the university sector from the pandemic. The actions cover stakeholder engagement, university sector governance and strategic planning.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a lifecycle of accounting roles at different stages of the COVID-19 response that reflects requirements from the university’s regulatory environment and draws on intellectual capital and service-dominant logic literature.

中文翻译：

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为您服务的会计：COVID-19 的大学生存、恢复和革命

目的

本文的目的是讨论会计对大学从 COVID-19 大流行中生存、恢复和革命的作用。它建设性地批评了使用合规性和以成本为中心的会计来为危机应对提供信息，并提出会计的角色以更好地为危机中的决策服务。

设计/方法/方法

本文讨论了在大学应对 COVID-19 大流行时如何使用会计信息的局限性。本文描述了跨危机阶段会计的潜在作用。这些提案承认大学监管环境产生的要求，并应用知识资本会计和服务主导逻辑的概念。

发现

本文提出，在生存阶段，会计可以通过阐明危机的影响和利益相关者的一致性来减轻轻率的反应。在恢复阶段，会计可以通过平衡会计中有关员工费用和资本投资的信号来为资源决策提供信息。在革命阶段，会计有助于开发适应不断变化的学生需求、混合教学和智力资本重要性所需的商业模式。

研究限制/影响

该案例研究讨论了大学应对 COVID-19 大流行的早期阶段。它没有提供对危机中会计成败的全面分析。该案例提出了会计方向，以澄清大流行的目标和因果关系的模糊性。

实际影响

本文提出了会计行动，以支持大学部门从大流行中的生存、恢复和革命。这些行动涵盖利益相关者参与、大学部门治理和战略规划。

原创性/价值

本文提出了在 COVID-19 响应的不同阶段会计角色的生命周期，它反映了大学监管环境的要求，并借鉴了智力资本和服务主导的逻辑文献。