Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 1

Running Head: Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music

Vince Tran

15May 2017

English 5

Professor Sweeney

Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music

 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 2

Introduction

The disciplines of accounting and music are two very distinct academic subjects.

Although accounting has consistently been a popular major for many college students that are

good with numbers, music is a growing subject that continues to grow each and every year. This

results in many more students that are involved in both accounting and music. John Swales

would say that the gap in the knowledge, or the problem, is simply that - the world, and

specifically Saint Marys College, is unfamiliar with the concept of some students studying both

accounting and music. But with the increase of students in both accounting and music, many

classrooms are unaware of how the two can correlate with each other, and how to help teach the

student how to utilize each field to perform each at 100% capacity. For my research, I have

interviewed previous teachers at my high school (Clayton Valley Charter High School in

Concord California), current professors at Saint Marys College, and various students that have

studied in either accounting, music, or both. Through my research, I have discovered various

patterns and behaviors that the two disciplines share, and through reflection and thought, I have

discovered the similarities between the two and how to utilize both to their maximum capacity.
 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 3

Literature Review

There are many various terms in the field of accounting that an experienced accounting

should know of. For example, the most basic accounting term is CPA, which is a certified public

accountant (Luca). This is familiar to all accountants because all aspiring accountants are

required to take the CPA exam, which is the exam that every accountant must pass in order to

have the title of the CPA. Another set of terms that are commonly used in the field of accounting

would be various income statements (Mashat). This includes different formats, such as cash

budgets, direct materials budgets, manufacturing overhead budget, selling and administrative

expense budget, and budgeted income statement. These are very common in the field of

managerial accounting because these are formats for how to create a budget within a company in

order to minimize expenses and increase predicted sales growth. In the world of music, every

musician must be aware and understand various terms that will enhance the music making

experience. These include a crescendo (gradually getting louder), ritardando (match tempo with

the conductor to either gain tempo or slow down), and symphony (a musical group consisting of

strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments) (Hesmondhalgh, 2012). Along with an

understanding of the terms, every musician must be able to read music, which is essentially

interpreting black dots on a page to make sounds. This puts music to life.
 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 4

Methodology

There are many similarities and differences in accounting and music, and my goal is to

establish what those traits are, and find any connections between the two that would be beneficial

for an accountant or musician to keep in mind. To start, my data collection began with

interviewing an accounting professor, a high school band direct, and a student that is studying

both accounting in music. I used this method to determine what skills accountants and musicians

share in order to understand the similarities and differences in how the two disciplines

communicate within their respective disciplines, and how they analyze the text that each

discipline is familiar with. For example, in the discipline of accounting, financial statements are

most commonly read by accountants, and some examples of different financial statements

include the income statement, statement of cash flows, and various balance sheets. The

information that is gathered by the accountants are then either inputted into other financial

statements that fit the format of their company, created into an entirely new financial statement,

or reported to the managers, investors, or stockholders. With musicians, they read sheet music, or

various notes on a page. The musician is indicated by the sheet music of what to play, how to

play, when to play, and other various musical nuances. The musician then has to understand and

play the notes, and incorporates their own emotion into the music that they play. These are some

examples of two very distinct literatures that could have a connection if studied and analyzed.
 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 5

Data Collection

Interview 1, Saint Marys College Professor

This professor at Saint Marys College teaches accounting, both introductory and

intermediate accounting, and is regarded as one of the best accounting professor at Saint Marys

College by other professors, upperclassmen, and underclassmen. One of the reasons for his

excellent teacher ratings is his straight forward teaching style that involves teaching by showing

the class how to solve a certain type of problem, and then giving the class an example problem to

solve the problem. This professor has used this method of teaching for many years, and although

very simple, it is very effective because it is teaching what needs to be taught, and then

reinforcing what is taught with a practice problem. The first question I asked this professor had

to do with what skills should an aspiring accountant need in order to succeed in this field. His

response was that an accountant should be able to understand various sets of information, such as

financial statements or tax forms, in order to arrange them in a format that is convenient for both

companies and stockholders that an accountant would report to. Another skill that this professor

said that all successful accountants have is the work ethic to practice the skills of accounting over

and over to gain the ability to think quickly and effectively. An example of this would be when

this professor was just starting out in their career, and the department that he was working in was

absolutely piled up with work. It was only through extensive practice throughout grad school that

this professor did not fall behind but worked faster and more efficiently than expected, whereas

the rest of his department had to depend on him and his expertise to aid the others. The final skill

that he said that all accountants should have is the ability to be open minded. Doing so will
 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 6

ensure that every accountant is willing to listen to any advice that would help them grow in their

level of expertise.

Interview 2, Clayton Valley Charter High School Teacher

I interviewed my old high school band director soon after emailing the accounting

professor from Saint Marys College. Because this teacher is now in Maryland pursuing a

masters degree in conducting, we decided to use Skype for this interview. I also asked him the

same questions that I asked the accounting professor to see if I could draw some similarities

between accounting and music. Sure enough, there were many similarities that my band director

stated that relate to accounting. I again asked for his opinion of what skills would make a

musician successful in their field. His response was that he thinks that there are two skills every

successful musician has, and those two are having a strong work ethic and being able to be open

to feedback from others. He says this because having a strong work ethic leads to being more

motivated to practice playing music, which in turn directly leads to being more skilled with

practice time. Having an open mind allows the musician to be able to think of other options and

accept all kinds of feedback to make their music performance skills stronger. This teacher also

talked about his time as an undergrad college student, where he himself took accounting for a

semester to fulfill the college core curriculum requirements. He expressed that I found that the

skills that I learned in music, the work ethic, the ability to solve problems quickly, and the power

to read something entirely new and being able to analyze it efficiently and effectively, really

helped me in accounting and other math related courses (Interview #2).

 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 7

Interview 3, Saint Marys College Student

My final interview was with a student at Saint Marys College, who is an accounting

major and a music minor, like I am. I was honestly very surprised to find another accounting

major and music minor, not because not only is it a rare combination of disciplines, but because I

thought that we would have met sooner, having such a similar course of education. This is an

example of how nonexistent the discourse community is between accounting and music, and how

communication between others in the same discipline is lacking. Nevertheless, I asked this

student of how their experience has been so far with accounting and music. The student

answered that although the workload is quite challenging, especially since accounting is quite a

difficult discipline to master, along with the time commitment and practice that being a music

minor requires. However some similarities that this student has observed between the two

disciplines is that they both reward organization and effective problem solving skills. Being

proficient at being able to organize information to a format that is easily understood is essential

in accounting and music because it makes it more convenient to analyze information, which is

essentially the goal of both accounting and music. Being an effective problem solver is very

important in both disciplines because both accounting and music may have unforseen

circumstances, such as missing money in accounting or complicated rhythms in music. Being

able to understand, evaluate, and process that information quickly to make the best of that

situation is essential to both accounting and music.

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Conclusion

Though my information was spread out into three different categories, I found that

organizing my information in this format allowed for each set of data (in this case, interview) for

my project to be clearly defined and separated to make each interview straightforward and clear

for information gathering. How the information all connects is the same way accounting and

music connect; it may not seem to have much correlation at first, but with deeper understanding

and analysis, there are many similarities that can be identified. For example, all three interviews

agree that accounting is a profession that requires the accountant to understand why they do

what they do, in order to know how they do what they do. The same applies for music, where

once a musician understands why certain things are the way they are, they will naturally know

how to do certain things off the top of their head. Another interesting similarity is the fact that

though accounting and music arent very alike in a physical sense, the people that study both

accounting and music are. Within the discourse community of those who are either majoring or

minoring in both accounting or music at Saint Marys College, the research done shows that

these personality types are quite similar. All students in this category are outgoing in their own

sense, passionate in the field that theyre studying in, perform in a musical ensemble, and are

extremely efficient in doing work because these students already have so much on their plate that

finishing assignments in the smartest way and not the hardest way possible is a requirement to

them. So although the discipline of accounting and music may never be alike, the students that

study both can look towards each other for guidance and mentorship within the discourse

community.
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Bibliography

Zan, Luca. "Genres and Change in Writing Accounting History: A Comparison between

Accounting and Music Historiography." Economia.Unibo. CiteSeerX, 02 Apr. 2002.

Web. 2 Feb. 2017.

This paper focuses on the similarities and differences between accounting and music. The
main method of research with this research paper is analyzing historical documents in the
field of accounting and management, and analyzing various compositions and composer
notes. Though being two very different disciplines, this paper tries to analyze and
understand the writing styles used in each discipline in order to speculate on ways that
the two disciplines that complement each other in a casual and professional setting. The
paper addresses four sections for accounting, which respectively, are genres and variety,
background and personal biases, pluralist historiography, and implications for
management and accounting historiographies (Luca Zan, section 1). For the musical
aspect, the paper addresses six sections, which respectively, are history of the present,
making history and theory making, unlinear sense of history, social history, pluralist view
of genres, and multi geographical emphasis (Luca Zan, section 2).

Kerry Jacobs Steve Evans, (2012),"Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular

music", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 25 Iss 4 pp. 673 -

702

This paper explores the cultural idea behind what an accountant means in popular music.
By understanding what the modern perception is of an accountant in modern music, we
can understand much more about the importance of cultural bias regarding a certain topic,
and hopefully learn about some similarities between the accountant and how their role
relates to how popular music sees it. Jacobs and Evans, the authors of this paper, argue
that although popular music has quite a negative connotation when referring to an
accountant, it is only due to the way that the accountant has been constructed in the
mirror of popular music (Evans), and that this representation of the accountant can still
be changed. Jacobs and Evans also try to explain in their paper the similarities and
differences between the discipline of accounting, and the discipline of music, in order to
gain a deeper understanding into how the two disciplines are intertwined with one
another.
 Utilizing the Differences Between Accounting and Music 10

Hesmondhalgh, David. "Why Music Matters." Why Music Matters (2012): n. pag.

Blackwell. 01 Sept. 2012. Web. 09 Mar. 2017.

This paper aims to discuss the importance of music in everyday life. From discussing
about the importance of elements in music in both a musical sense and a professional
sense, this papers goal is to help the reader understand that the fundamentals of music
can carry over to the fundamentals of everyday life. Although there may be some bias,
since I have been part of an instrumental music ensemble since the fourth grade, the
personal bias definitely helps in giving Hesmondhalgh credibility in showing how his
paper Why Music Matters relates to the regular life of a student that has been raised in
the performing arts. Hesmondhalgh argues that the lessons that music teaches a student
can be applied through all aspects of their life, and he backs up his claim with discussion
about primary sources, along with primary and secondary research regarding how
students with musical training compare against students with little to no musical training.

Adel Abdulhamid Mashat, Professor Bob Ritchie, Chris Lovatt, and Dr. John Pratten.

"The Social Role of Accounting: Views and Perceptions of the Accounting Community

in Libya towards Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability." The Social Role of

Accounting: Views and Perceptions of the Accounting Community in Libya towards

Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability (n.d.): n. pag. Crrconference.org.

Crrconference, 1 June 2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

This paper, written by the authors Adel Abdulhamid Mashat, Professor Bob Ritchie,
Chris Lovatt, and Dr. John Pratten, explains the social role of accounting, [and its] views and
perceptions of the accounting community [and] social responsibility and accountability
(Mashat, Ritchie, Lovatt, Pratten, page 1). The aim of this paper is to explain to the reader what
are some skills that would be used in a discourse community of accountants in order to
communicate, share information with one another, and the role that each accountant plays in the
discourse community. Although this paper brings a lot of good points, each accounting discourse
community is different, so although the skills and methods of communication in this discourse
community may seem universal, there are just often similarities and just that in other similar
discourse communities.