Accounting as codified discourse

Citation

(2005), "Accounting as codified discourse", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 18 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj.2005.05918faa.002

Accounting as codified discourse

Over the past decade or so in academe there has been strong interest in discourse analysis. A central concern across the management discipline has been with discourse as an organizing language that sets up both cultural and material practices. We argue that accounting constitutes a particularly powerful area of study for scholars who are interested in the practical efficacy of discourse, as accounting discourses are codified. By "codified" we mean that knowledge in (and of accounting is cast into systematic forms that prescribe codes for practices. Accounting, as the key professional management discipline, embeds codes that encompass both the formal and the informal (i.e. regulations, standards and policies, but also professional norms, ceremonies and rituals). These “codes” have to be interpreted but they cannot be discarded. We expect that the codified nature of accounting knowledge (and skills) may precipitate a “tighter” relationship between discourse and practice than that which pertains in other areas of management.

Theoretically, different positions have been taken on the relationship between what is spoken or written (talk and text) and what is done (material, cultural and social practices). Although it is clear that language itself is used to do things — give orders, make promises and so on, many writers have sought to make a distinction between language and practice. In Foucault’s work, for example, the power of discourse often appears to “float above” people’s actual material activities “on the ground”. It is perhaps easier to see the enmeshment of the discursive and the cultural than to connect the discursive and the material realms. Whatever position is taken on the relationship between discourse and practice, discourse scholars reject any conception of language as an essentially “do-nothing” domain. Indeed many argue that discourses both ‘bring things into existence” and “make things happen” — whether these ‘things” are cultural or material. We hope that this special issue on Accounting as codified discourse” will make a significant contribution to the debate on discourse/practice relations through a consideration of the particular power that codified discourses have, not only for cultural practices, but also for the material world of action, agency and events.

In consequence we invite theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions to the debate on “Accounting as codified discourse”. An indicative, but not exhaustive, list of what we see as potential questions/themes in this debate is given below:

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  As the “language of business”, to what extent does the codified nature of accounting specify and, hence, legitimise the practices of capitalism?

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  How do accounting codes protect and reinforce notions of capitalism and/or repel and resist attempts at its critique (i.e. in what ways do accountants become apologists for, and accounting codes become the ideological tools of, capitalism)?

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  How are the codes of accounting represented in professional practice?

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  In what ways do accountants become constituted through accounting codes?

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  In what ways and with what effects are aspects of the environment and society becoming codified through accountants’ language?Empirical studies of those spheres of activity (e.g. health and education provision) that are now increasingly constructed and governed through accounting codes.

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  Other empirical studies of areas of life potentially subject to accounting codes and, hence, new accounting practices.

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  Studies that demonstrate the potential for discourse analysis to be mobilised as a research methodology in accounting research,

The submission deadline for this special issue is 31 December 2005, but earlier submissions are welcomed. Manuscripts should be sent electronically by e-mail (in a word file format) to both Professor Sue Liewellyn, The Management centre, University of Leicester, (sl150@le.ac.uk) and Professor Markus Mime, Department of Accountancy & Business Law, University of Otago, New Zealand (mmilne@business.otago.ac.nz).Authors are asked to follow Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal’s standard formatting requirements. All papers will be reviewed in accordance with AAAJ’s normal processes. Authors who are wishing to discuss their papers prior to submission may contact any of the three guest editors by e-mail.

Dr Fiona Anderson-Gough, The Management Centre, University of Leicester, (fmags@le.ac.uk).

Professor Sue Liewellyn, The Management Centre, University of Leicester, (sli150@le.ac.uk).

Professor Markus Mime, Department of Accountancy & Business Law, University of Otago, New Zealand (mmilne@business.otago.ac.nz).