“A witches' dance of numbers”

Abstract

2 "A witches' dance of numbers". Fictional portrayals of business and accounting transactions at a time of crisis. AbstractPurpose -This paper's purpose is to show how literary texts can be used as a source for gaining insights into social practices, including accounting. It aims to deepen our understanding of such social practices in their cultural, social, economic and political contexts by examining portrayals of business and accounting transactions and of reflections of social and economic concerns in two German novels set during a time of economic and political crisis, namely the Weimar Republic's hyperinflation period. Design/methodology/approach -The paper analyses, against the historical, social and economic backgrounds of the inflation period, the novels' authors' social and political perspectives as reflected in the novels; the literary devices employed; the way in which the description of business and accounting matters aids our understanding of everyday inflation period transactions and underlying economic and social concerns; and the links made between accounting/business, money and inflation on the one hand, and morality and rationality on the other hand. Findings -The paper finds that in this exceptional economic situation, the relationship between accounting and morality as explored by Maltby (1997) is reversed. The portrayal of (often unusual and creative) economic transactions is used to illustrate the lack of economic, legal and moral certainty experienced by individuals and to evoke and critique the damage caused by the hyperinflation on German society and on human relationships, including the commoditisation of all aspects of life and the resulting moral decline. Originality/Value of the Paper -The paper contributes to the literature exploring the role of representations of business/accounting and finance in narrative fiction. The novels examined here provide an alternative means for observing, interpreting and critiquing social phenomena, specifically in a setting where financial considerations dominate human interaction and social relationships.

Chaos and comedy: The narrative of Samuel Turner III

“…Drawing on the emerging accounting literature using fiction and other non-traditional accounts (e.g. Czarniawska, 2012; Evans, 2009; Evans and Fraser, 2012; McBride, 2022; Miley and Read, 2014), we see future studies could consider calculative practices, the mobilisation of accounting concepts or the role of management in constructing meaning using contemporaneous social media. In particular, pamphlets and dinner speeches convey a continuous and sustained narrative of the zeitgeist of the time.…”

“…How a society perceives accounting is ‘reflected in culture, in art, and in particular, literature’ of the time (Evans, 2009: 170). These social artefacts, such as stories, diaries, gravestones and images (Evans and Fraser, 2012; McBride, 2022; Miley and Read, 2014) deliver an understanding of the practice and how certain concepts are diffused in society as ‘taken-for-granted’ norms.…”

“…These social artefacts, such as stories, diaries, gravestones and images (Evans and Fraser, 2012; McBride, 2022; Miley and Read, 2014) deliver an understanding of the practice and how certain concepts are diffused in society as ‘taken-for-granted’ norms. For example, accounting historians have adopted a narrative approach to investigate contemporaneous literature such as the role of the accountant in fiction to promote stereotypes (Czarniawska, 2012; Evans and Fraser, 2012); the commodification of the totality of life in the inflationary Weimer Republic (Evans, 2009); the changing conceptions of accounting and gender in the novels of Douglas Adams (Czarniawska, 2012); and the use of structured folk tales to reveal sense-making for accountants faced with new government policy (Morrell and Tuck, 2014).…”