Crawford Spence and Mark Shenkin
The aim of this paper is to consider the role of mass mobilisations against international business in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to consider the role of mass mobilisations against international business in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state, relating this to recent studies looking at the scope of resistance to international business.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis draws from a series of formal interviews with key political actors in Bolivia which were part of a wider ethnographic study exploring the emergence of the new hegemonic bloc in the country. The narrative is framed using the discourse theory of Laclau, and the methodology inspired by Bourdieu's understanding of social ethnography.
Findings
The paper finds that the uprisings against international business in Cochabamba in 2000 and El Alto in 2003 were pivotal in developing a wider critical consciousness to oppose neoliberalism in Bolivia. Subsequently, these social movements constructed a new identity as the “people” and implemented a more radical form of democracy.
Research limitations/implications
The time period studied is such that it was impossible to assess whether or not this counter‐hegemonic movement has established a hegemonic bloc that has the potential to filter out into international resistance movements against business.
Practical implications
The paper offers a range of insights that may be useful to social movements concerned with constructing national and international struggles against capitalism and/or neoliberalism.
Originality/value
As far as is known, this is one of the first papers to outline how civil society resistance to international business can lead to wholesale shifts in the balance of power within a nation state and the construction of a substantively new political order.
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Mark Shenkin and Andrea B. Coulson
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how the social‐theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu (1931‐2001) could contribute to knowledge production on accountability.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how the social‐theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu (1931‐2001) could contribute to knowledge production on accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on Bourdieu's conceptualisation of social practice in terms of a field/habitus relation, and uses this relation as a framing mechanism to explore the possibilities of accountability in corporate‐stakeholder relations.
Findings
The authors argue that Bourdieu's work holds significant implications for academics operating in the political space relating to accountability because it informs a basis for academic intervention.
Research limitations/implications
Included in the paper are a critique of the dominant “liberal” position on accountability and a defence of the development of a “post‐liberal” alternative.
Practical implications
It is argued that this alternative requires moving away from the dominant procedural approach to practice and recognising the value of informal communication and non‐institutional action as equally valid routes towards accountability.
Originality/value
Reflecting on Bourdieu's position reminds us of the explicit link between political and methodological change, and highlights the necessity for these to be inextricably linked.
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The Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research has been running Summer Schools since 1992, when the first was arranged as part of the British Accounting Association’s…
Abstract
The Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research has been running Summer Schools since 1992, when the first was arranged as part of the British Accounting Association’s Summer School programme to encourage new researchers to embark on a research career. Whilst the programme has developed over the ten schools so far held, the ethos has remained the same ‐ encouragement and stimulation in a co‐operative, academic environment. The summer schools have given new and experienced researchers the opportunity to present their ideas ‐ whether as completed papers or as some form of work in progress ‐ to a sympathetic audience in tune with the general themes presented. Mostly, the research forms part of the more general critical approach to accounting research, and participants are more comfortable both with presenting and critiquing ideas using a critical framework. This involves exposing ’conventional’ accounting wisdom and using different frameworks with which to examine what transformations may take place if other perspectives are applied. Having said that, there is a place to air research carried out from a managerialist outlook too, so that a reformist position may also be taken.
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The purpose of this paper is to describe and critically evaluate the systems of accounting and accountability for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in Kenya. It suggests a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and critically evaluate the systems of accounting and accountability for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in Kenya. It suggests a new framework of accounting and accountability that places the goals and aspirations expressed in public discourse at the centre of accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical insights of Bourdieu and Foucault are mobilized so as to tease out the nature of power relations between the various fields associated with the CDF in Kenya. The study analyses newspaper commentaries as text for identifying the main themes associated with the management of the CDF in Kenya.
Findings
The paper finds that the CDF's systems of accounting and accountability are skewed towards the needs of centralized national planning and development, contrary to its expressed aim of bringing about citizens' participation in development.
Research limitations/implications
Use of newspaper commentaries and reports does not necessarily represent the views of the majority of the people of Kenya.
Practical implications
A new framework is suggested which places the goals and aspirations of public discourse at the centre of accounting with the various capitals suggested by these goals and aspirations forming the dimensions on which the CDF can be accounted for. Novel forms of accounting and accountability are suggested which include presentation of CDF implementation and results at public forums where the managers of CDF can be interrogated on the basis of the goals and aspirations expressed in public discourse.
Originality/value
Study of the CDF systems of accounting and accountability is a unique contribution to accounting for development in developing countries.
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Sanjaya Chinthana Kuruppu and Sumit Lodhia
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of accountability as it relates to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) evolving through a period of considerable change in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of accountability as it relates to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) evolving through a period of considerable change in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth single case study of a large NGO working in Sri Lanka is presented. Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with a range of NGO employees and stakeholders, undertaking participant and non-participant observation and document analysis.
Findings
This paper shows how accountability is a contested notion that is shaped by struggles among stakeholders within a field. The authors explore how the “widespread field” consisting of the aid context in Sri Lanka and internationally is rapidly shifting. This creates unique pressures within the “restricted field” of the case NGO and its constituents. These pressures are manifested in the contest between the different capitals held by various stakeholders to shape the NGO. The nature of access to these capitals is important in the way that the NGO is shaped by external forces, and also by the individuals within it.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds fresh perspective to the growing body of work in NGO accountability. The paper highlights the tensions NGOs face through a holistic application of a Bourdieusian conceptual framework. The authors show how the habitus of the organisation is shaped in such a way that conceptions of accountability were captured by powerful external and internal constituencies. Ultimately, the nature of an organisation’s agency is questioned.
Practical implications
The authors present a more nuanced understanding of forces which shape accountability in an NGO setting which is of practical relevance to NGOs and their stakeholders. The authors highlight the struggle for an NGO to maintain its agency through resisting external forces that impact on its operations.
Originality/value
This study presents a comprehensive and holistic application of Bourdieu’s concepts and their interactions in an organisational setting. The struggle to harness various forms of capital in the field, shapes doxa and the habitus of NGO actors, illuminating the role of symbolic violence in the creation of an organisational identity.
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The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the development and current state‐of‐the‐art of social and environmental accounting (SEA) research, with particular…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the development and current state‐of‐the‐art of social and environmental accounting (SEA) research, with particular reference to the role and contribution of the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, while also offering some pointers as to how the field may develop in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach combines a literature review and critique, with particular emphasis on SEA papers published in AAAJ (1988‐2007) together with other papers published in a range of leading‐edge journals (2004‐2007).
Findings
While published SEA research covers a wide range of topics, particular emphasis has been placed on polemical debate and studies investigating the organisational determinants and managerial motivations underpinning reporting initiatives. Some evidence is produced of a rapprochement between mainstream SEA scholars and critical theorists, with the moral foundation, and interventionist stance, of the former being combined with the historically and theoretically informed perspective of the latter. Evidence is also offered of field‐based studies achieving greater prominence in the literature in recent years.
Research limitations/implications
While a “broad brush” analysis of the historical development of SEA research is offered, detailed investigation is largely confined to the contribution of Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal and that of contemporary research studies.
Practical implications
Agreement is expressed with the conclusions emanating from previous authoritative reviews of the field concerning the need for engagement with practice on the part of researchers. However, a managerial perspective is eschewed in favour of recommending articulation of research to social movements and working directly with stakeholder groups.
Originality/value
The paper provides a detailed analysis of the contribution made by one particular leading edge journal, while further drawing on recently published work in a range of journals in order to develop pointers for future effective interventions by SEA researchers in matters of public policy and praxis.
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This study aims to fill the gaps in mandated reports with social accounts to provide more inclusive accountability during a crisis using the illustrative example of Anglicare’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to fill the gaps in mandated reports with social accounts to provide more inclusive accountability during a crisis using the illustrative example of Anglicare’s Newmarch House during a deadly COVID-19 outbreak.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a close-reading method to analyse Anglicare’s annual review, reports, board meeting minutes and Royal Commission into Aged Care submissions. Informed by Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, the study collocates alternate “social accounts” in the form of investigative journalism, newspaper articles and media commentary on the events that transpired at Newmarch House to unveil a more nuanced and human-centric rendering of the ramifications of a public health/aged care crisis.
Findings
COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing issues within the aged care sector, exemplified by Newmarch House. The privileging of financial concerns and lack of care, leadership and accountability contributed to residents’ physical, emotional and psychological distress. The biopolitical policy pursued by powerful actors let die vulnerable individuals while simultaneously making live more productive citizens and “the economy”.
Research limitations/implications
Organisations express their accountability by using financial information provided by accounting, even during circumstances with more prevailing humanistic concerns. A transformational shift in how we define, view and teach accounting is required to recognise accounting as a social and moral practice that should instead prioritise human dignity and care for the betterment of our world.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the limited literature on aged care, extending particularly into the impact of COVID-19 while contributing to the literature concerned with crisis accountability. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is also the first to examine a form of biopolitics centred on making live something other than persons – the economy.
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The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the act of shadow reporting by a social movement organisation as a form of shadow accounting within a sustained campaign…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the act of shadow reporting by a social movement organisation as a form of shadow accounting within a sustained campaign against a target corporation. Situated within a consideration of power relations, the rationales underlying the production of the shadow report, and the shadow reports perceived value and limits as a shadow accounting mechanism, are investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
A Foucauldian approach to power/knowledge and truth is drawn upon in the analysis of a single case study. Alongside a consideration of the shadow report itself, interviews with both the preparers of the report and senior management of the corporation targeted comprise the main data.
Findings
The paper provides an empirical investigation into shadow reporting as a form of shadow accounting. While a range of insights are garnered into the preparation, dissemination and impact of the shadow report, key findings relate to a consideration of power relations. The perceived “truth” status of corporate accounts compared to accounts prepared by shadow accountants is problematised through a consideration of technologies of power and power/knowledge formations. Power relations are subsequently recognised as fundamental to the emancipatory potential of shadow reporting.
Research limitations/implications
Results from a single case study are presented. Furthermore, given the production of the shadow report occurred several years prior to the collection of data, participants were asked to reflect on past events. Findings are therefore based on those reflections.
Originality/value
While previous studies have considered the preparation of shadow reports and their transformative potential, this study is, the author believes, the first to empirically analyse the preparation, dissemination and perceived impacts of shadow reporting from the perspectives of both the shadow report producers and the target corporation.
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Magnus Frostenson and Leanne Johnstone
Motivated to know more about the internal means through which accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations (in what ways and by whom), this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Motivated to know more about the internal means through which accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations (in what ways and by whom), this paper aims to explore how accountability for sustainability is constructed within an organisation during a process of establishing a control system for sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a qualitative case study approach of a decentralised industrial group, operating mainly in Scandinavia, between 2017 and 2020. Both primary and secondary data are used (e.g. document analyses, semi-structured interviews, informal conversations and site visits) to inform the findings and analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal a multi-faceted path towards accountability for sustainability that involves several concerns and priorities at organisational and individual levels, resulting in a separate sustainability control systems within each subsidiary company. Although hierarchical structures for accountability exist, socialising accountability activities are needed to (further) mobilise sustainable accounts.
Practical implications
Successful sustainable control systems require employees making sense of formalised accountability instruments (e.g. policies and procedures) to establish their roles and responsibilities in organisations.
Social implications
This paper proposes socialisation processes as important for driving forward sustainability solutions.
Originality/value
This study elaborates on the internal accountability dynamic for the construction of sustainable accounts. Its novelty is built upon the interaction of hierarchical and socialising accountability forms as necessary for establishing a control system for sustainability. It furthermore illustrates the relationship between the external and internal pathways of accountability.