Encountering accounting in society

In this concluding chapter to the Handbook of Accounting in Society, we reflect on the collective effort of the contributors. Taken together, our contributions present a manifestation of accounting realism, a concern with how and where accounting actually takes place in society. As we explore the diverse ways in which accounting shapes organizations and institutions, and is shaped by them in turn, we encounter diverse forms of accounting and a diversity of accountants. Among the accountants, professionally trained and accredited practitioners seem all but outweighed by accounting practitioners who arrive at their accountings as activists, scientists, nurses, doctors, or carers, or in their humble role es taxpayers. This diversity of accountants, their accounts and accountings offers a basis for reforming the accounting profession, for redeveloping accounting education, and for leveraging accounting for the common good - for changing accounting in society into an accounting for society.