Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts

Abstract

The constitutive ability of accounting to produce effects, influencing people's minds and behaviour, has been widely acknowledged in accounting literature. This paper argues, however, that in order for accounting to have an impact on people, its figures needs to be interpretable to its intended users. But what happens in situations where people are considered as inhibited in reading and interpreting financial information? This paper investigates how financial accounts are presented to individuals believed to be impaired in their ability to make sense of its figures. It does so by moving the empirical focus beyond the borders of the professional organisation and into the private sphere of everyday life, examining how a televised financial makeover show literally represents financial information in order to turn its participants into financially responsible citizens. The paper's empirical findings give reasons for problematising the conditions under which accounting is able to affect people, concluding that, without taking people's ability to interpret financial accounts into consideration, the possibilities of the accounts having an impact on their users risk falling short.

“Free” and “unfree” money in German prisons: The role of accounting in educating public service users

“…Economic participation, accounting skills, and social inclusion are often linked in discussions on financial literacy (Bay, ; Bay et al., ). The lack of financial literacy can marginalize certain groups of a population, for example, elderly people or people with disabilities who may encounter problems making sense of quantified information (Junne, ; Junne & Huber, ).…”

“…Demands of knowledge about all kinds of financial issues such as pension, life insurances, investments, and savings accounts have proofed to be generally high for contemporary citizens (Erturk, Froud, Johal, Leaver, & Williams, ; Finlayson, ; Williams, ). Issues of indebtedness and personal bankruptcies are widespread, suggesting that many individuals are unable to process and manage their financial situations as expected (Bay, ). The financial literacy needed to interpret financial accounts must be learned and taught, and is constructed and guided through specific communication (Abrahamsson, Englund, & Gerdin, ; Bay, ; Mouritsen, ; Qu & Cooper, ).…”

“…Issues of indebtedness and personal bankruptcies are widespread, suggesting that many individuals are unable to process and manage their financial situations as expected (Bay, ). The financial literacy needed to interpret financial accounts must be learned and taught, and is constructed and guided through specific communication (Abrahamsson, Englund, & Gerdin, ; Bay, ; Mouritsen, ; Qu & Cooper, ).…”

“…Yet, the dissemination of neoliberal ideas may actually be implemented through accounting practices, rather than political discourses (Lapsley & Hyndman, ). Accounting's ability to educate and integrate individuals in the public sector has been addressed to some extent in the context of social welfare (Bracci, ; Junne, ; Junne & Huber, ; Needham, ), and in the world of popular culture (Bay, ; Jeacle & Carter, ). Public organizations’ role in (re)including citizens as active members in society has further been touched upon in works on the pedagogical state (Newman, ; Pykett, ).…”

“…The increased interest in the economic agency of citizens has highlighted the relevance of accounting as a means of governing individuals (Miller & O'Leary, ; Miller & Rose, ; Rose, ). More recently, the educational effects of accounting on individuals have been discussed in the context of financial literacy as the link among economic participation, accounting skills, and societal inclusion of citizens (Bay, ; Bay, Catasús, & Johed, ). The relatively small number of works on the educational role of accounting has mainly focused on how accounting is used to educate individuals about economic rationality and basic calculative capacities.…”