The birth of a nation: Accounting and Canada’s first nations, 1860–1900

Neu, Dean; Graham, Cameron

doi:10.1016/j.aos.2004.10.002

Cited by 117 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Neu and Graham have investigated the roles played by accounting and funding relations within the process of nation building in Canada, across the period 1860-1900. 86 Neu, Ocampo Gomez, Graham, and Heincke have studied the reporting practices of the World Bank, focusing in particular on how accounting technologies embedded within lending agreements have influenced the governing of education in Latin America. 87 Mennicken has traced how Western images and instruments of auditing came to be incorporated in post-Soviet politics of transition.…”

Section: Accounting and Foucaultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting, Territorialization and Power

2012

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ABSTRACT:This essay aims to introduce readers to the social studies of accounting, attending in particular to the roles and relevance of Foucault's works for this field. We provide a brief overview of social studies of accounting, discuss recent developments in Foucault oriented accounting scholarship, and position the articles that appear in this special issue in the context of these developments. In the concluding section, we argue that accounting is an inherently territorializing activity. The calculative instruments of accountancy transform not only the possibilities for personhood, they also construct the physical and abstract calculable spaces that individuals inhabit. A focus on territorializing shifts attention to the links between calculating and governing.Keywords: Accounting, governmentality, calculative practices, power, territorialisation.Accounting practices have come to play a pivotal role in organizing contemporary economic and social life. Whether in the private or the public sector, activities are increasingly structured around calculations of costs and benefits, estimates of financial returns, assessments of performance and risk, and a plethora of other forms of numerical and financial representation. Yet, despite the influence of this vast yet still growing calculative infrastructure, relatively little attention has been given to the ways in which this economizing of the entire social field alters modalities of governing and forms of personhood and power.Weber, Sombart and Marx are typically identified as the founding fathers of economic sociology. 1 In different ways, they pointed out the pivotal role that double-entry bookkeeping and capital accounting played in the emergence of capitalist modes of production. Yet, the new economic sociology of recent decades has remained largely silent on this topic, albeit with some notable exceptions. 2 Somewhat ironically, the rediscovery of accounting as an object of 5critical and social scientific enquiry has occurred largely outside the disciplinary boundaries of sociology, and more particularly within the discipline of accounting itself. 3 Notwithstanding the attention of accounting researchers to such issues, it remains the case that relatively few studies have examined the intrinsic links between calculative infrastructures and modes of governing individuals and social relations. Equally, and despite the increasing number of studies examining the roles of calculative models in framing socio-technical interactions in the particular setting of financial markets, little attention has been paid in such studies to the ways in which these models alter or shape modalities of governing and forms of political power. 4 This is a pity, for a much wider phenomenon than financial markets and the models that animate and operationalize them is at issue here. Put differently, performativity can be an empty notion unless we pay attention to both the conditions and consequences of metrics and models. 5 With this special issue, we call for greater attention by...

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Section: Accounting and Foucaultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting, Territorialization and Power

2012

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“…Ahrens, 1997;Covaleski & Dirsmith, 1988;Preston, Cooper & Coombs, 1992), processes of macroeconomic management and change (e.g. Neu & Graham, 2006;Suzuki, 2003), and dynamics of accounting professionalization (e.g. Anderson-Gough, Grey & Robson, 1998;Boland, 1982;Caramanis, 2002;Cooper & Robson, 2006).…”

Section: Accounting Intersectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance, organizations and markets

Vollmer

Mennicken

Preda

2009

Accounting, Organizations and Society

125

122

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“…Nyamori (2009) posits that accounting promises knowledge of the domain to be governed, which can be packaged and transported so that others can debate and pass judgement at a distance. Furthermore, accounting as a government technology attempts to minimise these distances (Neu and Graham, 2006), as it acts as a carrier of new practices, transferring these practices from the centre to peripheral locations and defining what and how figures will be collected. For example, the transferral of financial accounting principles serves to standardise practices and impose a particular way of thinking and acting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing IFRSs in the UK devolved administrations

Wall

Connolly

2016

Accounting, Auditing &Amp; Accountability Journal

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Implementing IFRSs in the UK Devolved AdministrationsAbstract Purpose -Utilising concepts drawn from the governmentality literature, this paper examines the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in the United Kingdom's (UK's) devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in order to assess why they were adopted and how their introduction has been governed. Design/methodology/approach -This research applies a combination of three different approaches, namely: a content analysis; an anonymous online questionnaire; and semistructured interviews. Findings -These include: the transition has had minimal impact upon policy setting and the information produced to aid budgeting and decision-making; IFRSs are not entirely appropriate for the public sector; the time, cost and effort involved outweighed the benefits; public sector accounting has become overly-complicated; and the transition is not perceived as part of a wider privatisation programme. Research limitations/implications -As this study focuses upon the three UK devolved administrations, the findings may not be applicable in a wider setting. Practical implications -Public sector change must be adequately resourced, carefully planned, with appropriate systems, trained staff and interdisciplinary project teams; accounting change should be based on value for money; and a single, coherent financial regime for the way in which government uses budgets, presents estimates to Parliament and publishes its resource accounts should be implemented. Originality/value -This study highlights that accounting change is not just a technical issue and, while it can facilitate a more business-like environment and enhance accountability, all those affected by the changes may not have the requisite skills to fully utilise the (new) information available.

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The birth of a nation: Accounting and Canada’s first nations, 1860–1900

Cited by 117 publications

References 16 publications

Accounting, Territorialization and Power

Accounting, Territorialization and Power

Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance, organizations and markets

Implementing IFRSs in the UK devolved administrations

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