Indigenous practices of accounting on the ground: a Bourdieusian perspective

Abstract

PurposeThis study explores accounting practice in an Indigenous organization. This organization is embedded within a rural Aboriginal community in the country currently known as Australia. In doing so, this study illustrates the intertwining of accounting practice, practitioners, organizations and social/cultural context, while recognizing that the cultural embeddedness of accounting is not uniform.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical materials were collected as part of a qualitative field study with an Indigenous organization. Specific methods include interviews, informal conversations, documentary reviews and participant observations. These materials were analysed through a Bourdieusian perspective.FindingsBy working with Indigenous Peoples on the ground, rather than relying on secondary materials, this study highlights how the values of a community challenge and reorient accounting practice towards community aspirations. This study illustrates how fields beyond the organization influence accounting practice, including in budgeting and assurance.Originality/valueExploring Indigenous practices of accounting maintains Indigenous agency and opens up space for alternative understandings and practices of accounting. By illustrating how a community can influence the accounting practice of an organization, this study has implications for wider understandings of the cultural embeddedness of mainstream accounting and possible alternatives.

Counter-accounting and social transformation: Yaṉangu way

“…A small number of studies have conducted ethnographic research with First Nations organisations, such as Fukofuka et al (2023), Kalyta and Malsch (2018), Rossingh (2012) and Scobie et al (2023). These studies emphasise the value of deep immersion in fieldwork to observe accounting practices and accountability in intercultural settings (Fukofuka et al, 2023). Thus, this study responds to the call for further ethnographic enquiry in accounting.…”

“…Previous ethnographic studies in accounting have explored a variety of organisational contexts and research settings (examples include Ahrens, 1997;Chua, 1995;Dey, 2007;Irvine, 2011). A small number of studies have conducted ethnographic research with First Nations organisations, such as Fukofuka et al (2023), Kalyta and Malsch (2018), Rossingh (2012) and Scobie et al (2023). These studies emphasise the value of deep immersion in fieldwork to observe accounting practices and accountability in intercultural settings (Fukofuka et al, 2023).…”

Accounting and religious influence in the seventh day Adventist church in the Pacific islands

“…They have various memberships outside the Church in that they belong to a village, have a daytime job and belong to families, all of which come to bear on how they act, interact and react in a religious setting. To that end, Fukofuka and Jacobs (2018), Fukofuka et al (2023), as well as Ahrens and Mollona (2007) showed how taking into account the complexity of the social agent provides richer insights into how and why they act, react and interact in a particular manner and with what consequences. Accordingly, our practice focus allows us to consider the multiple memberships of social agents and with what ramifications.…”

Indigenous sustainable finance as a research field: A systematic literature review on indigenising ESG, sustainability and indigenous community practices

“…We also include in our understanding of indigeneity the deleterious effects of colonisation on indigenous peoples, which has led to the subjugation of indigenous worldviews, and in so doing acknowledge that sustainable finance research devoid of indigenous perspectives contributes to the continued colonisation of indigenous peoples. This is a view we adopt from the accounting discipline which is more advanced in its recognition of indigenous perspectives (Fukofuka et al, 2023). We extend our understanding of indigeneity to the definition of indigenous investments, more formally termed indigenous asset management, which we define as indigenous approaches to finance and investment taken by indigenous groups to advance their economic development using the assets and compensation that have been returned to them, by their respective governments, through processes of historical redress.…”