Making accountancy practical

Article Abstract:

Accounting is generally thought of as having the practical function of guiding the decision making of organizations towards the ends of economic efficiency. However, the supposition that the practical end of accounting is economic efficiency is not self-evident but is the product of a complex process of theoretical invention rather than grounded a priori. These processes have been disregarded in major accounting studies, and certain major assumptions grounding the theory of accounting's practical function are the products of this process of theoretical invention. These processes of theoretical invention are important, but neglected aspects of accounting research, as evidenced by a set of concepts elucidated during the Depression in the 1930s in the US which made it possible to abstract accounting's practical function from moral and political criteria.

Research

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Accounting, expertise and the politics of the product: economic citizenship and modes of corporate governance

Article Abstract:

Current political and economic debate about the competencies and strategies involved in American factory and manufacturing processes includes the accounting practice as integral to the constant development of corporate governance modes. Termed the 'politics of the product,' the debate centers on attempts to change the ways and means of representing and managing production processes, specifically in terms of problematizations, programmes and technologies. Reforms of accounting's calculative tools such as the use of activity based costing, go beyond mere representation of manufacturing systems into the realm of the promotion of a new brand of economic citizenship. As such, accounting reform is intrinsic to new developments in the regulation of economic life.

Methods, Usage, Accounting and auditing, Corporate governance, Manufacturing processes, Manufacturing

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Accounting and the construction of the governable person

Article Abstract:

The development of standard costing and budgeting theories in the first 30 years of the twentieth century is explored, and elements suggested for a theoretical understanding of accounting which would relate it to other projects for the organizational and social management of personal lives. Rather than seeing standard budgeting and costing as a stage in the advance of accounting concepts' accuracy and refinement, it is viewed as a valuable calculative practice which belongs to a broader modern power apparatus that emerged in the early part of this century. The purpose of this type of power is seen to be the development of the individual as a more efficient and manageable entity.

Social aspects, Analysis, History, Budget, Budgeting, Budgets, Industry, Industries, Social accounting, Direct costing

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