Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular music

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of "the accountant" and the world of "art for art's sake". Design/methodology/approach -This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles. Findings -Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the "accountant villain", the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the "art" and the "money", the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented).Research limitations/implications -The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances. Originality/value -This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation Keywords Accounting, Music, Beatles, Bourdieu, Culture Paper type Research paper The world of the bourgeois man, with his double-entry accounting, cannot be invented without producing the pure, perfect universe of the artist and the intellectual and the gratuitous activities of art-for-art's sake and pure theory (Pierre Bourdieu (1986)).Research into accounting in popular culture emerged from a virtual standing-start following Hopwood (1994) and his call to study accounting as it permeates and functions in wider social and cultural practices. Since that time a body of work has emerged. One major focus of this work has been how accounting is represented in literature, although researchers have also considered accountants in film, music and even poetry. On the whole, the stereotype of the accountant in popular culture is negative. However, our engagement with and theorisation of popular culture has been

Judgement devices and the evaluation of singularities: The use of performance ratings and narrative information to guide film viewer choice

“…Firstly, several studies have focused on how accounting and accountants are characterized within popular culture. For example, Beard (1994) and Dimnik and Felton (2006) examined the portrayal of accountants in films; Bougen (1994) and Miley and Read (2012) considered how accountants are characterized in jokes; and Smith and Jacobs (2011) and Jacobs and Evans (2012) explored issues relating to the characterization of accounting and accountants in popular music. Secondly, other studies have focused more on accounting's influence on various aspects of popular culture in domains as diverse as cinema (Jeacle, 2009), sport (see for example, Andon and Free, 2012;Andon et al, 2014;Cooper and Joyce, 2013), furniture design (Jeacle, 2005), fashion (see for example, Jeacle and Carter, 2012;Jeacle, 2015;Neu et al, 2014) and the use of social media (see for example, Jeacle and Carter, 2011;Scott and Orlikowski, 2012).…”

Using photographs in interpreting cultural and symbolic meaning: A reflection on photographs of the Korean Association for Government Accounting

“…In the accounting research, Bourdieu's theoretical tools have been employed to understand how accounting is involved in the shaping of meaning and significance of accounting actors' everyday lives such as religion (Jacobs, 2011), sports (Cooper & Johnston, 2012) and popular music (Jacobs & Evans, 2012). Field and capital have been the most popular Bourdieusian theoretical concepts applied in the accounting literature (Malsch et al, 2011), whereas the notion of objectified forms of capital has been largely overlooked.…”

Managing popular culture

“…3 It is now possible to speak of an emerging agenda in accounting research which engages with the realm of popular culture (Jeacle, 2012). Such scholarship encompasses, for example, the world of pop music (Smith and Jacobs, 2011;Jacobs and Evans, 2012), television (Carter and McKinlay, 2013), popular film (Jeacle, 2014), and populist sports (Cooper and Johnston, 2012;Cooper and Joyce, 2013;Free, 2012, 2014;Carlsson-Wall et al, 2016).…”