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Handbook of Accounting in Society
The Handbook of Accounting in Society invites readers to consider the ways in which accounting affects organizations, institutions, communities, professions, and everyday life. Diverse in its reach, this Handbook campaigns for the need to reconsider our understanding of what accounting is and crucially, what it can become.
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Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
The Handbook of Accounting in Society invites readers to consider the ways in which accounting affects organizations, institutions, communities, professions, and everyday life. Diverse in its reach, this Handbook campaigns for the need to reconsider our understanding of what accounting is and crucially, what it can become.
Hendrik Vollmer brings together an array of scholars to discuss how accounting practice is shaping the way we do business and government, the way we negotiate our values and valuations, and how we keep track of ourselves and prepare for the future. Contributors highlight how little of accounting is controlled by the accounting profession and raises key persistent issues in accounting practice that concern the professional practitioner as much as the everyday life accountant: accountability and unaccountability, inequality and social justice, and inclusion and exclusion. This dynamic Handbook argues for the redevelopment of accounting education and illustrates the emancipatory potential of alternative forms of accounting, counter accounting, and accounting activism.
Reinvigorating the interdisciplinary approach to accounting and its place in society, this Handbook will be a vital read for scholars, researchers and students specializing in accounting, management, governance and sustainability, business ethics, diversity and inclusion, public administration, organizational behaviour, and organizational culture. It will also be an informative read for accounting professionals, social scientists interested in accounting practice, and political activists engaged in counter accounting.
Hendrik Vollmer brings together an array of scholars to discuss how accounting practice is shaping the way we do business and government, the way we negotiate our values and valuations, and how we keep track of ourselves and prepare for the future. Contributors highlight how little of accounting is controlled by the accounting profession and raises key persistent issues in accounting practice that concern the professional practitioner as much as the everyday life accountant: accountability and unaccountability, inequality and social justice, and inclusion and exclusion. This dynamic Handbook argues for the redevelopment of accounting education and illustrates the emancipatory potential of alternative forms of accounting, counter accounting, and accounting activism.
Reinvigorating the interdisciplinary approach to accounting and its place in society, this Handbook will be a vital read for scholars, researchers and students specializing in accounting, management, governance and sustainability, business ethics, diversity and inclusion, public administration, organizational behaviour, and organizational culture. It will also be an informative read for accounting professionals, social scientists interested in accounting practice, and political activists engaged in counter accounting.
Critical Acclaim
‘This important book revisits the multifaceted roles that accounting practices have come to play in society. Tracing the diverse range of accountants and accountings from professional practice, accountings for wildlife, gender, race, life, death and grassroots activism to the portrayal of accountants in movies, this book brings together a uniquely rich and diverse collection of essays that reveal accounting’s wide scope of power and influence, exploring what accounting was, is and could be.’
– Andrea Mennicken, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
‘Accountants here, accounts there, accounting everywhere! The Handbook of Accounting in Society provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion of how accounts and accounting feature in contemporary society, and how we should pay attention to the roles they play in various settings. An inspiring read directing one to consider matters that would deserve more attention than they usually receive.’
– Matias Laine, Tampere University, Finland
‘Hendrik Vollmer brings together a group of internationally respected researchers who passionately share their expertise and reflections. Collectively, the chapters produce a stunning mosaic testifying to the ubiquity of accounting, while individually each chapter informs and challenges readers to wrestle with accounting’s specific roles and forms of influence. Highly recommended!’
– Robin Roberts, University of Central Florida, US
‘This new Handbook is both an important contribution to the literature and a really useful resource for newcomers to the field. It will be essential reading for students developing a critical perspective and scholars reflecting on the role of accountants and accounting in the wider world.’
– Sheila Killian, University of Limerick, Ireland
– Andrea Mennicken, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
‘Accountants here, accounts there, accounting everywhere! The Handbook of Accounting in Society provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion of how accounts and accounting feature in contemporary society, and how we should pay attention to the roles they play in various settings. An inspiring read directing one to consider matters that would deserve more attention than they usually receive.’
– Matias Laine, Tampere University, Finland
‘Hendrik Vollmer brings together a group of internationally respected researchers who passionately share their expertise and reflections. Collectively, the chapters produce a stunning mosaic testifying to the ubiquity of accounting, while individually each chapter informs and challenges readers to wrestle with accounting’s specific roles and forms of influence. Highly recommended!’
– Robin Roberts, University of Central Florida, US
‘This new Handbook is both an important contribution to the literature and a really useful resource for newcomers to the field. It will be essential reading for students developing a critical perspective and scholars reflecting on the role of accountants and accounting in the wider world.’
– Sheila Killian, University of Limerick, Ireland
Contributors
Contributors include: Chandana Alawattage, Jan Bebbington, Michele Bigoni, James Brackley, Sara Closs-Davies, Tom Cuckston, Antonio D’Andreamatteo, Dominic de Cogan, Mercy Denedo, Colin Dey, Amanze Ejiogu, Glenn Finau, Ann-Christine Frandsen, Warwick Funnell, Alessandro Ghio, Jason Glynos, Cameron Graham, Theresa Hammond, Darlene Himick, Keith Hoskin, Ingrid Jeacle, Rania Kamla, Caroline Lambert, Marie-Astrid Le Theule, Adam Leaver, Ulrike Marx, Martina Mattioli, Karen McBride, Giovanna Michelon, Anette Mikes, Jérémy Morales, Alistair Mutch, Pier-Luc Nappert, Ken Okamura, Konstantinos Roussos, Shona Russell, Massimo Sargiacomo, Atul K. Shah, Stewart Smyth, Ileana Steccolini, Anne Steinhoff, Penelope Tuck, Penelope van den Bussche, Jan van Helden, Shraddha Verma, Hendrik Vollmer, Budi Waluyo, Rebecca Warren
Contents
Contents:
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction to Handbook of Accounting in Society: seeing accountants
everywhere 2
Hendrik Vollmer
PART II HISTORY, ACCOUNTING, SOCIETY
2 Accounting in society? Accounting and society 9
Ann-Christine Frandsen and Keith Hoskin
3 Accounting in society: a historical perspective 29
Karen McBride and Shraddha Verma
PART III ACCOUNTING AND THE SHAPE OF BUSINESS
4 The temporalities of financialized accounting 45
Adam Leaver
5 Accounting for values at risk: risk management and moral imagination 58
Anette Mikes and Ken Okamura
PART IV ACCOUNTING FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
6 Accounting for public value 78
James Brackley
7 Reflecting on the ‘ethos’ of public sector accounting: from
‘taken-for-granted’ to ‘plural’ values? 91
Jan van Helden and Ileana Steccolini
8 ‘Management by accounting’: the roles of accounting in agencification 107
Budi Waluyo
9 Accounting for emergency, emergency for accounting: a bibliometric review 123
Antonio D’Andreamatteo, Martina Mattioli and Massimo Sargiacomo
PART V ACCOUNTING FOR OUR FUTURE: PENSION, TAXES, WELFARE
10 Preparing the future: the roles of accounting in public and private pensions 141
Cameron Graham
11 Us and them: the role of accounting in (re)creating social inequality
through encounters with tax and welfare administration 155
Sara Closs-Davies
12 The calculation and administration of taxes as an economizing force 168
Penelope Tuck, Thomas Cuckston and Dominic de Cogan
PART VI ACCOUNTING FOR OURSELVES
13 Foundations for socio-ecological accounting scholarship 183
Jan Bebbington, Giovanna Michelon and Shona Russell
14 Accounting for gender equality 194
Ulrike Marx
15 Accounting vs. economic inequality – two examples of critical
accounting praxis 209
Stewart Smyth and James Brackley
PART VII FAITHFUL ACCOUNTANTS AND ACCOUNTINGS
16 Muslim women accountants: the unknown feminists 226
Rania Kamla
17 ‘Accountable creatures’: Christianity and accounting 239
Alistair Mutch
PART VIII ACCOUNTING CULTURES
18 Portraying the accountant in popular culture: reflections on The
Accountant (2016) movie 253
Ingrid Jeacle
19 Accounting perspectives in the digital world: controlling online interaction 265
Penelope Van den Bussche
PART IX ACCOUNTING ACTIVISTS
20 Activism and accounting 280
Colin Dey
21 Demanding accountability through grass roots activism: the case of
service charging in English social housing 294
Amanze Ejiogu and Mercy Denedo
22 The accountability assembly as a counter-accounting performance 310
Rebecca Warren, Anne Steinhoff, Konstantinos Roussos and Jason Glynos
23 Queer accounting voices: accounting academics’ oral stories 328
Alessandro Ghio and Theresa Hammond
PART X GLOBALISATION, EMPIRE, AND COMPETING WORLDS
24 Postcolonialism in accounting 344
Chandana Alawattage
25 Racism in the accounting academy – an auto-ethnographic case study of
British higher education 363
Atul K. Shah
26 Grappling with the angst of accounting: a reflection on the potential of
an Indigenous accounting approach 377
Glenn Finau
PART XI ACCOUNTING FOR LIFE AND DEATH
27 Accounting and biopolitics: an Italian perspective 387
Michele Bigoni and Warwick Funnell
28 Wildlife in human spaces: bringing naturalization and landscape-scale
conservation into the sustainable organization 400
Thomas Cuckston
29 Economic rents at the end of life: for-profit eldercare and the myth of
corporate accountability 414
Cameron Graham, Darlene Himick and Pier-Luc Nappert
30 Accounting for the good life: accounts that break your heart 428
Marie-Astrid Le Theule, Caroline Lambert and Jérémy Morales
PART XII CONCLUSION
31 Encountering accounting in society 445
Hendrik Vollmer, Michele Bigoni, James Brackley, Sara Closs-Davies,
Thomas Cuckston, Mercy Denedo, Amanze Ejiogu, Ann-Christine Frandsen,
Alessandro Ghio, Keith Hoskin, Karen McBride, Shona Russell, Atul K. Shah,
Penelope Tuck and Jan van Helden
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction to Handbook of Accounting in Society: seeing accountants
everywhere 2
Hendrik Vollmer
PART II HISTORY, ACCOUNTING, SOCIETY
2 Accounting in society? Accounting and society 9
Ann-Christine Frandsen and Keith Hoskin
3 Accounting in society: a historical perspective 29
Karen McBride and Shraddha Verma
PART III ACCOUNTING AND THE SHAPE OF BUSINESS
4 The temporalities of financialized accounting 45
Adam Leaver
5 Accounting for values at risk: risk management and moral imagination 58
Anette Mikes and Ken Okamura
PART IV ACCOUNTING FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
6 Accounting for public value 78
James Brackley
7 Reflecting on the ‘ethos’ of public sector accounting: from
‘taken-for-granted’ to ‘plural’ values? 91
Jan van Helden and Ileana Steccolini
8 ‘Management by accounting’: the roles of accounting in agencification 107
Budi Waluyo
9 Accounting for emergency, emergency for accounting: a bibliometric review 123
Antonio D’Andreamatteo, Martina Mattioli and Massimo Sargiacomo
PART V ACCOUNTING FOR OUR FUTURE: PENSION, TAXES, WELFARE
10 Preparing the future: the roles of accounting in public and private pensions 141
Cameron Graham
11 Us and them: the role of accounting in (re)creating social inequality
through encounters with tax and welfare administration 155
Sara Closs-Davies
12 The calculation and administration of taxes as an economizing force 168
Penelope Tuck, Thomas Cuckston and Dominic de Cogan
PART VI ACCOUNTING FOR OURSELVES
13 Foundations for socio-ecological accounting scholarship 183
Jan Bebbington, Giovanna Michelon and Shona Russell
14 Accounting for gender equality 194
Ulrike Marx
15 Accounting vs. economic inequality – two examples of critical
accounting praxis 209
Stewart Smyth and James Brackley
PART VII FAITHFUL ACCOUNTANTS AND ACCOUNTINGS
16 Muslim women accountants: the unknown feminists 226
Rania Kamla
17 ‘Accountable creatures’: Christianity and accounting 239
Alistair Mutch
PART VIII ACCOUNTING CULTURES
18 Portraying the accountant in popular culture: reflections on The
Accountant (2016) movie 253
Ingrid Jeacle
19 Accounting perspectives in the digital world: controlling online interaction 265
Penelope Van den Bussche
PART IX ACCOUNTING ACTIVISTS
20 Activism and accounting 280
Colin Dey
21 Demanding accountability through grass roots activism: the case of
service charging in English social housing 294
Amanze Ejiogu and Mercy Denedo
22 The accountability assembly as a counter-accounting performance 310
Rebecca Warren, Anne Steinhoff, Konstantinos Roussos and Jason Glynos
23 Queer accounting voices: accounting academics’ oral stories 328
Alessandro Ghio and Theresa Hammond
PART X GLOBALISATION, EMPIRE, AND COMPETING WORLDS
24 Postcolonialism in accounting 344
Chandana Alawattage
25 Racism in the accounting academy – an auto-ethnographic case study of
British higher education 363
Atul K. Shah
26 Grappling with the angst of accounting: a reflection on the potential of
an Indigenous accounting approach 377
Glenn Finau
PART XI ACCOUNTING FOR LIFE AND DEATH
27 Accounting and biopolitics: an Italian perspective 387
Michele Bigoni and Warwick Funnell
28 Wildlife in human spaces: bringing naturalization and landscape-scale
conservation into the sustainable organization 400
Thomas Cuckston
29 Economic rents at the end of life: for-profit eldercare and the myth of
corporate accountability 414
Cameron Graham, Darlene Himick and Pier-Luc Nappert
30 Accounting for the good life: accounts that break your heart 428
Marie-Astrid Le Theule, Caroline Lambert and Jérémy Morales
PART XII CONCLUSION
31 Encountering accounting in society 445
Hendrik Vollmer, Michele Bigoni, James Brackley, Sara Closs-Davies,
Thomas Cuckston, Mercy Denedo, Amanze Ejiogu, Ann-Christine Frandsen,
Alessandro Ghio, Keith Hoskin, Karen McBride, Shona Russell, Atul K. Shah,
Penelope Tuck and Jan van Helden
