Social and Economic Implications of Increasing Income Inequality: Accountability Concerns

Ravenscroft, Sue; Denison, Christine A.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7082-9_5

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Beyond commentary on existing research (Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015), a small number of articles discuss inequality disclosure. Ravenscroft and Denison's (2014) largely conceptual analysis argues one reason economic inequality is hidden from public view is because accounting frameworks, most notably the generally accepted accounting principles, do not require organisations to disclose economic inequalities. Ravenscroft and Denison (2014) contend economic inequalities threaten social cohesion, especially democratic institutions like a fair political process.…”

Section: Existing Interdisciplinary Research On Accounting For Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ravenscroft and Denison's (2014) largely conceptual analysis argues one reason economic inequality is hidden from public view is because accounting frameworks, most notably the generally accepted accounting principles, do not require organisations to disclose economic inequalities. Ravenscroft and Denison (2014) contend economic inequalities threaten social cohesion, especially democratic institutions like a fair political process. Haller et al (2018) observe that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)the sustainability reporting framework the world's largest companies use most (KPMG, 2017) includes items to report income inequality.…”

Section: Existing Interdisciplinary Research On Accounting For Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing measures use national accounts and individual accounting data like tax returns (Alvaredo et al, 2018). Corporate reporting is also increasingly important to inequality research and praxis, because profits and wages are one significant determinant of income inequity (Davis and Cobb, 2010;Ravenscroft and Denison, 2014). Since tax and welfare payments influence economic inequity, accounting and accountants are also implicated in the politics of inequality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Economic inequality: problems and perspectives for interdisciplinary accounting research

Tweedie

Hazelton

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage and advance interdisciplinary accounting research on economic inequality. Design/methodology/approach The authors review prior research into economic inequality, including two new papers in this issue, to identify topics where economic inequality and accounting research intersect. The authors then draw on prior accounting research to identify frameworks accounting scholars already use apposite to analysing these topics. Findings Economic inequality cuts across major accounting topics, including measurement, reporting and tax. Inequality also bears on an influential agenda in interdisciplinary accounting research to hold corporations and states accountable for their impacts. Four prior research frameworks accounting scholars might apply to this agenda are: critical Marxian or post-Marxian; accounting ethics; advocacy; and disclosure studies. Social implications A growing body of social scientific research, as well as influential global institutions, social movements and political debates, raise concerns over inequitable global distributions of wealth and income. The authors explore ways accounting scholars can help redress these inequities. Originality/value While economic inequality affects billions of people, accounting scholarship is yet to give these inequities the attention their scale and social impact merits. The authors suggest ways accounting researchers can make substantive contributions to addressing this issue.

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Section: Existing Interdisciplinary Research On Accounting For Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Existing Interdisciplinary Research On Accounting For Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Economic inequality: problems and perspectives for interdisciplinary accounting research

Tweedie

Hazelton

2019

AAAJ

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“…Until recently, however, accounting has been largely silent on the relationship between accounting and economic (in)equality (Sikka, 2015; Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015)[1]. Ravenscroft and Denison (2014, p. 91) argue that “accounting narratives have been silent on corporations’ role in expanding income inequality” even though this is “a phenomenon which causes significant problems for individuals, and could threaten the survival of our tradition of democratic institutions”. The crucial significance of this issue, and the role of accounting in the allocation of firm resources (and in transparency and accountability in relation to this allocation), has led to recent calls for social accounting, with its stated agenda of social emancipation, social justice and progressive social change, to engage with issues of economic inequality (Sikka, 2015; Tweedie and Hazelton, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting for the “working poor”: analysing the living wage debate in Aotearoa New Zealand

Skilling

Tregidga

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse justifications for, and accounting’s role in, arguments for and against the living wage. Design/methodology/approach A systematic content analysis of arguments made for and against the living wage in a range of secondary data sources is conducted. Boltanski and Thévenot’s typology of “orders of worth” provides the framework for analysis. Findings Arguments for a living wage are found to draw on a range of orders of worth. These arguments hold that while market signals have a valid role in informing wage decisions, such decisions should also take into account the civic order’s emphasis on collective outcomes, the industrial order’s emphasis on long-term organisational performance, and an emphasis on the inherent dignity of the human worker drawn from the domestic and inspired orders. Business arguments against a living wage hold that the current weight given to the tests and objectives of the market order is optimal and that a living wage would undermine firm competitiveness and, ultimately, collective well-being. Justifications of existing low-wage practices are shown to be reflected in, and naturalised by, accounting discourses and practices. Originality/value This study contributes to the emergent literature on the relationship between accounting and inequality. It elucidates accounting’s role in supporting the market order of worth and thus the stabilisation and perpetuation of income inequalities. Its analysis of the orders of worth invoked by those calling for a living wage contribute to the task of imagining and constructing an alternative, more equitable, accounting discourse and practice.

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“…According to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Stiglitz (2012), at present the United States (US) is close to the level of inequality that characterizes dysfunctional societies like Iran, Jamaica, Uganda and the Philippines. The evolution of income concentration over the last four decades in the US has been termed as "dramatic" (Ravenscroft and Denison, 2014) and is having major social consequences (Albrecht and Albrecht, 2007). Some authors even feel that the inequality entailed could threaten the survival of the tradition of democratic institutions (Fukuyama, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Más allá de la brecha salarial de género

Larraz¹,

Pavía²,

Vila³

2019

conrec

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La desigualdad de género, y en particular la desigualdad salarial de género, ha sido considerada una prioridad política en muchos países durante las últimas décadas, con foco puesto en reducir la llamada brecha salarial, es decir, en buscar una convergencia en media para los salarios de hombres y mujeres. Una aproximación de medias, sin embargo, no implica distribuciones salariales más justas (totales y de género). Utilizando los microdatos de una muestra nacionalmente representativa de la población ocupada de España (N = 216,769), descomponemos la desigualdad salarial total en desigualdad salarial femenina y masculina (intra-grupos) y desigualdad de género (entre-grupos) y exploramos hasta qué punto estos índices dependen de las características laborales previamente identificadas como determinantes de las diferencias promedio entre hombres y mujeres ("brecha salarial de género"). Para este conjunto de datos, los análisis muestran que la desigualdad salarial de género es más alta que la desigualdad salarial total y ambas la desigualdad salarial total y la desigualdad de género aumentan con la edad y el nivel educativo de los trabajadores.

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Social and Economic Implications of Increasing Income Inequality: Accountability Concerns

Cited by 5 publications

References 30 publications

Economic inequality: problems and perspectives for interdisciplinary accounting research

Economic inequality: problems and perspectives for interdisciplinary accounting research

Accounting for the “working poor”: analysing the living wage debate in Aotearoa New Zealand

Más allá de la brecha salarial de género

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