Unfolding institutional plurality in hybrid organizations through practices: The case of a cooperative bank

This paper provides a theoretically informed analysis of how institutional pluralism unfolds in hybrid organizations through practices. Building on Quattrone's (2015) procedural model, the paper studies institutional plurality in the case of an Italian cooperative bank that has experienced enduring success. By reversing the usual approach to logic, defined as a stable set of beliefs, this paper shows that this hybrid organization uses a recursive system of practices in search of social order. This hybrid organization interrogates its organizational imperatives and defines adequate ways to achieve them. This paper then observes that this system of practices is permeable to external pressures, i.e., inspections by the central bank, a reform of cooperative banks, political pressure for mergers and acquisitions, and Italy's sovereign debt crisis. While such an organization appears to be ongoingly accountable to its multiple stakeholders, external pressures undermine its community accountability system and push this hybrid organization towards compliance accountability. Based on our findings, this paper develops a process model for hybrid organizations to navigate institutional plurality and to explain the potential limitations of the accountability system.     

Accountability,maps and inter-generational equity: evaluating the Nigerian oil spill monitor

The Oil Spill Monitor (OSM) is an innovative public sector accounting system intended to improve the regulation of oil pollution in the Niger Delta through greater transparency and stakeholders’ engagement. The Nigerian OSM, an online accounting and geographic information system, was set up by non-governmental organizations before becoming part of the regulator’s accountability system. Problems with data quality, regulatory enforcement and remediating practices meant that improved accountability and stakeholder engagement were necessary but not sufficient in this case.     

Institutionalising multiple accountability logics in public services: Insights from Australia

This paper reports on a field study of how a range of inter-institutional and inter-organisational forces shape the evolving rhetoric and practice of multiple accountabilities in public services. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, we carried out a qualitative field study in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service involving semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and the examination of internal accounting, management reports, and government archival records. The findings suggest that emphasis on conventional instrumental mechanisms and reporting tools, such as budgeting and accrual-based reporting, support managerial (instrumental) accountability through compliance logics. We conclude that an emphasis on public (relational) accountability through public dialogue is central to the public sector accountability debate, and that more attention needs to be paid to the question of how to balance the dual logics (instrumental and relational) in public services. The findings provide practical insights for public sector managers, policymakers and governments responsible for designing and implementing reforms, accounting tools, and accountability practices.     

Institutionalisation of control and accounting for bonded labour in colonial plantations: A historical analysis

This paper offers a historical analysis of control and accounting for bonded labour relations in the 19th century colonial plantations in British Ceylon. The case illustrates the institutional evolution of colonial accountability and control systems, and the forms of accounting embedded therein. The notion of historical institutionalism is used to illuminate (1) how control systems were constructed in a path-dependent manner, (2) what particular accounting practices were institutionalised and (3) what roles they played in such circumstances. As the case reports, accounting practices in this context tended to be idiosyncratic due to historically specific and path-dependent material circumstances.     

Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change

The paper develops a methodology of accounting practices as conscious representations of purposive action, which seeks to build broader insights from qualitative research into the social aspects of accounting change, and how these relate to wider organisational and social transformations. The paper constructs the methodology by linking together and developing interpretive and labour process perspectives through an analysis of ethnographic material drawn from an extensive field study of the empresas recuperadas – cooperatives formed by workers during economic and political crisis in Argentina in 2001. The analysis traces the involvement of accounting practices within collaborative dynamics that transformed a hierarchical organisational structure, embedded within accountability systems that manifest prevailing notions of identity and collectivism, into a decentralised organisation that established relations with grass roots societal groups informed by new purposes and values. This perspective develops into a concept of the differentiated and contradictory social aspects of profitability, and highlights a range of potential relations between representations and realities. The final part conceptualises the collective and nuanced conditions through which accounting practices represented individual needs more effectively. The paper concludes by highlighting how its methodology and findings help to understand the conscious, collaborative involvement of accounting practices within social life.     

Accounting,paper shadows and the stigmatised poor

The social implications of accounting are explored through an historical study of spoiled identities in state welfare systems. The processing, recording, classification and communication inherent in the accounting practices deployed in such systems have the potential to (re)construct identities, inform perceptions of self and impact on the social relationships of the welfare claimant. The paper examines these potentialities through an investigation of the accounting regime attending the system of poor relief in Victorian England and Wales. Informed primarily by the work of Goffman it is suggested that accounting processes comprised degradation ceremonies which compounded the stigmatisation of the recipient of relief, accounting classifications served to inscribe existing and create additional spoiled identities of the pauper, and individualized forms of accounting disclosure compromised the management of stigma by the poor.     

The relationship between strategic priorities,management techniques and management accounting: an empirical investigation using a systems approach

The study examines how combinations of management techniques and management accounting practices enhance the performance of organizations, under particular strategic priorities. Companies were identified as emphasizing product differentiation, low price strategies or a combination of both. Management techniques included in the study were improving existing processes; quality systems; manufacturing systems innovations; integrating systems; team-based structures and human resource management policies. Management accounting practices important in assisting managers implement management techniques were traditional management accounting techniques; activity-based techniques; balanced performance measures; employee-based measures; benchmarking and strategic planning. A systems approach, using cluster analysis, was used to examine hypothesized associations between performance and a range of management techniques and management accounting practices, under various strategic orientations. This provided a method to examine the way in which the entire range of variables combined to affect performance.     

The limits of accountability

Calls for greater accountability from managers and corporations are regularly voiced these days, both in the academic literature and in public discussions more generally. Specifically, it is often suggested that extant financial and management accounting practices embody a rather restricted form of accountability that falls short of our mutual responsibilities as more than economic subjects. Against this backdrop, this paper raises the question of whether more accountability is always and unambiguously desirable from an ethical point of view. It does so by inquiring into the limits that the accountable self faces when giving an account. Building upon the recent work of Judith Butler, the paper describes the accountable self as an opaque, exposed, and mediated self that is inherently limited in its ability to give an account of itself. Because of these limits, we cannot expect demands for accountability always to be fully met. The paper points to the ethical importance of recognizing this limited nature of accountability and outlines possible ramifications of this fact for practice.     

Accounting for public space

How is accounting implicated in the ordering of public space? Starting from the assumption that public space is that portion of an institutional field where, in part because of the participation of the media, there is relatively more openness in the flow of information and in the ability of field participants to engage in public discussion and debate, the study examines the relationship between accounting and public space in the context of educational reforms in Alberta, Canada. Using a variety of archival, conversational, interview and focus group data as well as the theoretical insights of Bourdieu and Foucault, the analysis highlights how the financial and accountability mechanisms used by the provincial government as part of its reform initiatives facilitated changes in the types and amounts of capital of certain field participants, encouraged the partitioning of generic social groupings such as parents and academic labour into more finely distinguished social groupings, and introduced new ways of saying and doing into the field. While these accounting and accountability changes were constraining on certain field participants they were also productive in that the new flows of accounting information created new opportunities within the field for certain field participants.     

The role of market devices in addressing labour exploitation: An analysis of the Australian cleaning industry

This study examines how the risk of labour standards noncompliance can be rendered calculable and commensurable through a market device. We present a case study of the Cleaning Accountability Framework (CAF), an industry certification scheme, which seeks to address labour exploitation in the Australian contract cleaning industry. We pay particular attention to the central device of the certification scheme – the pricing schedule. We examine how the pricing schedule shaped the calculative space informing contracting parties during the procurement process. In doing so, the pricing schedule increased transparency around the potential risk of labour standards noncompliance. The nature of this transparency and the perceived objectivity of the pricing schedule acted to reshape the market for contract cleaning, resulting in a redistribution of accountability for labour exploitation. We also examine how the pricing schedule formed part of a wider framework of accountability, and how these mechanisms enabled strategic co-enforcement of labour standards compliance by supply chain stakeholders. Overall, our study indicates the potential for accounting practices to play a more active role in shaping how markets address modern slavery risks.     

Sustainability accounting—a brief history and conceptual framework

Research linking accounting to the emerging concept of sustainability surfaced in the early 1990s and has received continuing attention in academic and professional accounting literature. This paper tracks this brief history through to the release of the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002, consolidating the various approaches into a sustainability accounting framework. The result is a comprehensive reporting model that presents an enormous challenge to business organisations, requiring a significant commitment of resources to achieve widespread implementation. Failure to meet this challenge enables business organisations to continue to avoid accountability for their continuing unsustainability. The paper concludes with a personal view as to how implementation of the sustainability accounting framework could proceed.     

The role of multiple values in developing management accounting practices in hybrid organisations

The aim of this study is to investigate how multiple values in non-profit hybrid organisations influence the adoption of management accounting practices. The empirical analysis centres on hybrid organisations established as co-production and co-management initiatives in social care. Pragmatic constructivism, centred on the role of values, informs the empirical analysis. This research shows that management accounting practices can develop without conflicts when only some actors are interested in management and their values predominate, despite the coexistence of multiple and conflicting values. However, in this situation, where conflicts are eliminated, the validity of accounting is compromised, as it does not represent all values. The evidence of this lack of validity is clear when considering the poor development of management accounting practices and the inability to develop some relevant measures, such as outcome measures. When only some values predominate, the opportunity provided by the multiplicity of values to the development of management accounting practices is lost, and possible inefficiencies may emerge. The use of pragmatic constructivism shows that this lack of validity, determined by the non-integration of values, would be reduced by increasing the discussion among conflicting actors’ values. Findings suggest that the presence of conflicting values, that at first glance may be interpreted as an impediment, would, on the contrary, be useful to support accounting validity, when stimulating discussion. In this respect, conflicting values should work alongside communication, to include dimensions of reality.     

‘We do good things,don’t we?’: ‘Blended Value Accounting’ in social entrepreneurship

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the emergent reporting practices used by social entrepreneurs in terms of their institutional settings and strategic objectives. These reporting practices not only account for financial performance but also disclose more nuanced and contingent social and environmental impacts and outcomes. Furthermore, they act as symbolic objects expressing the market orientation of many socially entrepreneurial organizations in that they aim to provide more complete and transparent disclosure of a variety of performance impacts. Conceptually, this paper draws upon approaches developed within the sociology of accounting as institutional practice and uses three theoretical interpretations to conceptualize the function and effects of reporting, disclosure, and audit in social entrepreneurship: positivist; critical theorist; and interpretative. A discussion of five case studies leads to the development of a new theoretical construct – ‘Blended Value Accounting’ – that constitutes a spectrum of disclosure logics used by social entrepreneurs to access resources and realize organizational mission objectives with key stakeholders. Conclusions consider some further questions around socially entrepreneurial reporting practices and strategies and suggest some new lines of research going forward.     

Accounting,professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization

This review paper argues that the institutions and sites of professionalization projects and regulatory processes matter. The institutions and locations where regulation takes place affect both the outcome of the regulatory process and the legitimacy of the rules and practices produced. Changes in regulatory processes affect opportunities for democratic control and legitimacy. A common position in the accounting literature is to examine both the process of professionalization and accounting and audit regulation within and around professional associations and related organizations, such as standard setting bodies and regulatory agencies. We argue that professional firms are increasingly important in professionalization and regulatory processes and have not received the attention that they warrant: an examination of the multi-national professional service firms (currently known as the Big 4) can enhance an understanding of professionalization and professional regulation. We suggest that these are important sites where accounting practices are themselves standardized and regulated, where accounting rules and standards are translated into practice, where professional identities are mediated, formed and transformed, and where important conceptions of personal, professional and corporate governance and management are transmitted.     

Ethics and accountability: from the for-itself to the for-the-other

Expanding global markets have resulted in renewed concern with accountability by transnational corporations and other economic agents. Reflections on economic accountability, however, often inadequately theorize necessary ethical presuppositions regarding the moral status of economic collectivities, including the scope of the moral community and the good that this community seeks. This essay addresses these ethical considerations. Taking as my starting point Schweiker's [Schweiker, W. (1993). Accounting for ourselves: accounting practice and the disclosure of ethics. Accounting Organizations and Society, 18(2/3), 231–252] claim that economic entities are properly accountable to a wider scope of good than their own by virtue of the accounts that accountants render of such entities, I argue that the discourse in terms of which the accounts are rendered serves to negate the very relation of obligation from which this accountability derives. Specifically, I argue that the discourse of neoclassical economics that informs accounting practice constructs the identity of the accountable entity such that it is obligated to pursue only its own good. Consequently, extant accounting practices are inadequate to meet the demands for accountability that are legitimately entailed by the act of rendering an account. I explore the implications of this conclusion for understanding economic accountability and related social accounting practices, and I propose the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas to establish a broader accountability on the part of economic entities.     

How can the public trust charities? The role of performance accountability reporting

Charities rely on public trust to exist. However, that trust has diminished, with a perceived lack of accountability seen as a key reason. This study draws on case studies of two New Zealand charities to examine their performance accountability reporting practices and potential implications for public trust. The findings surface the day‐to‐day agency of charity actors in shifting performance accountability practices towards modes of disclosure that are relevant and accessible to the public. This paper contributes to the literature by extending understandings of how charities produce accountability information that can enhance public trust and, thus, support their mission achievement.     

Inter‐Organizational Cooperation Challenging Hierarchical Accountability: The Dominated Actors in a Municipal Joint Venture

New public management offers a number of solutions to the kinds of problems that public sector organizations experience. In taking an accountability perspective, this paper elaborates on how two of these – strict responsibility for performance, and inter‐organizational cooperation – may conflict. The setting for this study is a joint venture with a dominant municipality and six dominated municipalities as owners. The article examines how horizontal accountability processes may influence the dominated owners’ hierarchical accountability. The ability to account hierarchically for the quality of service within budgetary parameters is problematized, when dominated owners may dismantle their ability to demand horizontal accountability.