Talking about succession in stricto sensu post-graduate programs in Accounting

Abstract

The issue of succession is an important topic and is a core concern of companies, especially in those characterized as family businesses. In this type of entity, questions related to the liquidity of existence, addressed by Bauman (2007a, 2007b, 2008), and to the founder’s dream (Flores & Grisci, 2012) are more present, primarily due to the affective/emotional/professional involvement of the players in the process. Problems of succession are also pressing in nonfamily businesses. They are more dramatic in those with no successors ready to assume command (Charan, 2005) and in state enterprises, in which they are also related to political and electoral processes (Guimarães & Silva, 2020). A successful succession process can be key to the endurance and perpetuation of an entity; that is, it is only through the process of succession that a business can expect to endure in the long run (Flores & Grisci, 2012). Within the area of universities and, more specifically, in post-graduate programs, the reality is no different. Discussing succession in stricto sensu post-graduate programs in accounting obligatorily involves the same dilemmas concerned in any other organizational environment. After more than 50 years since the creation of the first master’s course in accounting by the School of Economics, Business, and Accounting of the University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), and at a time when the area has more than 30 other programs, including academic and professional master’s and doctoral courses, succession in both the administrative and academic areas still remains to be included on the agenda for discussion, despite this already being a reality in some institutions.