The blind accountant in Blindness by José Saramago and accountant stereotypes

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to encourage the extension of the literature on accountant stereotypes beyond primarily Angelo-American contexts based on reflections formed on reading the novel, Blindness, by José Saramago. Design/methodology/approach: A mindful insight into how an accountant, blind since birth, is portrayed in the novel Blindness by acclaimed Portuguese author Saramago, a Nobel Prize for Literature recipient. Findings: The study reveals characters under extreme circumstances when a city is plunged into a blindness epidemic, or distinctive “white blindness”, and failings in human behaviour, particularly by hoodlums and their leaders, including the blind accountant. Research implications: By reflecting on what we take for granted in the accountant stereotypes literature, this paper illuminates how we can all contribute new understandings of accounting and accountants more specifically in all contexts in which the discipline and its practitioners operate, including non-Anglo-American contexts. Originality/value: The paper presents the insights of a member of the historical and interdisciplinary accounting research community with experience in research and publication on accountant stereotypes.