Accounting and the construction of institutions: The case of a factory

Walsh, Eamonn J.; Stewart, Ross E.

doi:10.1016/0361-3682(93)90052-8

Cited by 79 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Also, the ability of accounting numbers to be written down, calculated and mobilized (Robson, 1992) makes possible control at a distance, thus solving the problem of space. Accounting gives worth to rules (Hopper and Macintosh, 1993), and accounting is related to space (Hopwood, 1990;Miller, 1992;Loft, 1993;Walsh and Stewart, 1993) in governmental terms.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Govern(mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777)

Sánchez‐Matamoros

Hidalgo

Espejo

et al. 2005

Abacus

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New perspectives in accounting history have uncovered previously unattended relations between accounting and government. Earlier Foucauldian analyses of governments have not explained sufficiently the relations of accounting practices to governmental discourses in order to manage populations.This work uses the governmentality frame to analyse the role of accounting in two organizations located in the south of Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century: the New Settlements of Sierra Morena and Andalucia (NSs) and the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (RTFS). The period studied is remarkable because it was the apogee of the Enlightenment in Spain. From the standpoint of government, this period facilitated a new way to manage populations. The present work has drawn on Foucault's concept of governmentality in order to discover how accounting worked in two government-supported organizations independently of the discourses that pervaded each one. Drawing on the reticulation of the space, the use of rules and accounting from the governmental perspective, we analyse those institutions.The article concludes that the reticulation of space is an essential apparatus to exert action at a distance; the rules are a type of government technology; and, overall, accounting is a practice for the mastery of the population independently from the discourse of the institution.New perspectives in accounting history have uncovered previously unattended relations between accounting, society and government (e.g., Miller, 1986;Hopper and Armstrong, 1991;Stewart, 1992;Ezzamel, 1997; Fleischman J uan B años S ánchez -M atamoros is a Lecturer in Accounting, F ernando G utiérrez H idalgo an Assistrant Professor, and C oncha Á lvarez -D ardet E spejo (mcalvesp@dee.upo.es) and F rancisco C arrasco F enech Professors of Accounting at the University Pablo de Olavide of Seville. This research has benefited from financial support (in part) by SEC2633-2001 and SEJ-0111. The authors are also grateful to two anonymous referees for their constructive comments.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Govern(mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777)

Sánchez‐Matamoros

Hidalgo

Espejo

et al. 2005

Abacus

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“…Standards were also relevant to transport options, technology expectations and the control of various aspects of operations (e.g., waste, raw materials, processes, inventory). But the question still remains: was accounting deployed to achieve the control of labour and managers, the more limited aspect of control that critical historians seek as the genesis of modern managerialism Macve, 1988a, 1994;Ezzamel et al, 1990;Walsh and Stewart, 1993;Fleischman et al, 1995)? To answer this question requires an examination of BIR archives for evidence of labour and managerial control.…”

Section: Bir Accounting Methods (With Standards)mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Recently, a number of critical historians have also focused attention on this period, both in the U.S. and the U.K. (Loft, 1986;Miller and O'Leary, 1987;Hopper and Armstrong, 1991). However, revisionist work has investigated origins in earlier chronological epochs- Johnson (1972), Chandler (1977), Macve (1988a, 1994) and Tyson (1990Tyson ( , 1993and Roll (1930), Stone (1973), Edwards (1989), Fleischman and Parker (1990, 1997, Edwards and Newell (1991), Walsh and Stewart (1993) and Fleischman et al (1995) for the BIR. One important issue for the revisionists has been a definition of purposeful standard costing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Despite further extensive archival research (Edwards, 1989;Fleischman and Parker, 1990, 1997Edwards and Newell, 1991;Fleischman and Tyson, 1993;Walsh and Stewart, 1993), the issue remains unresolved. Parker (1991, 1997) have pondered how it could be that BIR entrepreneurs failed to appreciate the value of cost accounting to their enterprises, given their acknowledged sophistication in diverse areas, such as capital accumulation, technological innovation and market development.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

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The Evolution of Standard Costing in the U.K. and U.S.: From Decision Making to Control

Fleischman

Tyson

1998

Abacus

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Decision making and control are two fundamental components of industrial management that are aided by accounting information. This article traces the evolution of standard costing in the U.K. and U.S. and describes how it has served these two purposes over time. At the start of the industrial revolution, standard costing, in the form of past actual costs, aided managers in make-or-buy, pricing, outsourcing and other routine and special decisions. In the late nineteenth century, as the mass production of homogeneous products became more common, predetermined, normbased standard costs were promoted as the means to control operations and reduce waste. The use of predetermined costs was recommended by both academic and professional branches well into the twentieth century. Since the mid-1980s, norm-based standards have come under fire for not providing appropriate strategic signals in an era of global competition, continuous improvement and perpetual cost reduction.This article compares the nature of standard costing practices in the British Industrial Revolution with those that evolved in the U.S. under scientific management. The enquiry is not limited to double-entry systems and, like Miller and Napier (1993), the domain is broadened to include other forms of cost-keeping practices. We utilize primary and secondary sources to argue that the environment and rationales for standard costs have changed fundamentally over time. It is speculated that in the future standard costing will be used far less for individual accountability or operational control, but will return to its decision-making roots in the form of long-run cost targets that benchmark the success of continuous cost-reduction efforts.

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“…Here the concept of "the company" no longer refers to a group of individuals in physical proximity, but to a (deliberately fictional) construction of the enterprise as a legal personality. Within the enterprise accounting creates other "abstract spaces" (Walsh & Stewart, 1993) which are not defined by geographical location and that appear, for example, as profit or cost centres, and as direct and indirect locations. The relationships between spaces may be detailed in overhead allocations or transfer prices.…”

Section: Time and Spacementioning

confidence: 99%