IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/aosoci/v22y1997i7p691-712.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Unbearable Ambiguity Of Accounting

Author

Listed:
  • McSWEENEY, BRENDAN

Abstract

No abstract is available for this item.

Suggested Citation

  • McSWEENEY, BRENDAN, 1997. "The Unbearable Ambiguity Of Accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 691-712, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:22:y:1997:i:7:p:691-712
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361-3682(96)00039-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tinker, Tony, 1988. "Panglossian accounting theories: The science of apologising in style," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 165-189, March.
    2. Christenson, Charles, 1980. "Discussion of intersubjectivity -- the challenge and opportunity for accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 143-146, January.
    3. Hines, Ruth D., 1991. "The FASB's conceptual framework, financial accounting and the maintenance of the social world," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 313-331.
    4. Solomons, David, 1991. "Accounting and social change: A neutralist view," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 287-295.
    5. Boland, Richard Jr., 1989. "Beyond the objectivist and the subjectivist: Learning to read accounting as text," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 14(5-6), pages 591-604, October.
    6. Morgan, Gareth, 1988. "Accounting as reality construction: Towards a new epistemology for accounting practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 477-485, August.
    7. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1978. "Towards an organizational perspective for the study of accounting and information systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 3-13, February.
    8. Hopper, Trevor & Storey, John & Willmott, Hugh, 1987. "Accounting for accounting: Towards the development of a dialectical view," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 437-456, August.
    9. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1987. "Accounting and the construction of the governable person," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 235-265, April.
    10. David F. Ruccio, 1991. "Postmodernism and Economics," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 495-510, July.
    11. Hines, Ruth D., 1988. "Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 251-261, April.
    12. Nelson, John S., 1993. "Account and acknowledge, or represent and control? On post-modern politics and economics of collective responsibility," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 207-229, April.
    13. Thompson, Grahame, 1987. "Inflation accounting in a theory of calculation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 523-543, August.
    14. Flamholtz, Eric G., 1980. "The process of measurement in managerial accounting: A psycho-technical systems perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-42, January.
    15. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1990. "Making accountancy practical," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 479-498.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2016. "Financial numbers as signs and signals: Looking back and moving forward," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 17(2), pages 32-38.
    2. McSweeney, Brendan, 2000. "Looking forward to the past," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 767-786, November.
    3. Bayou, Mohamed E. & Reinstein, Alan & Williams, Paul F., 2011. "To tell the truth: A discussion of issues concerning truth and ethics in accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 109-124, February.
    4. Verdier, Marie-Anne & Boutant Lapeyre, Jennifer, 2023. "The myth of workforce reduction efficiency: The performativity of accounting language," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Linsley, Philip M. & Shrives, Philip J., 2009. "Mary Douglas, risk and accounting failures," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 492-508.
    6. Michaelson, Christopher, 2015. "Accounting for meaning: On §22 of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 54-64.
    7. Brennan, Niamh M., 2021. "Connecting earnings management to the real World:What happens in the black box of the boardroom?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    8. Free, Clinton, 2008. "Walking the talk? Supply chain accounting and trust among UK supermarkets and suppliers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 629-662, August.
    9. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    10. Gustavo Alberto Ruiz Rojas, 2016. "Retórica y contabilidad: de la crítica retórica a la retórica crítica," Revista Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, vol. 25(1), pages 243-270, December.
    11. John Francis McKernan & Katarzyna Kosmala, 2007. "Doing the truth: religion – deconstruction – justice, and accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(5), pages 729-764, September.
    12. Christophe Belleval & Carine Boiteau, 2006. "The implementing of IFRS standards by french firms studied from the perspective of performative language theories [Une interprétation de l'influence potentielle des normes IFRS sur les entreprises ," Post-Print halshs-00558427, HAL.
    13. Peecher, Mark E. & Solomon, Ira & Trotman, Ken T., 2013. "An accountability framework for financial statement auditors and related research questions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 596-620.
    14. Arnold, A.J., 2015. "Accounting's representation of industrial expansion and decline: Some evidence from practice at Vickers Shipbuilding, 1910–24," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 191-203.
    15. David Smith & Kerry Jacobs, 2011. "“Breaking up the sky”," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(7), pages 904-931, September.
    16. Paul Andon & Jane Baxter & Wai Fong Chua, 2015. "Accounting for Stakeholders and Making Accounting Useful," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(7), pages 986-1002, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Josiah, J. & Gough, O. & Haslam, J. & Shah, N., 2014. "Corporate reporting implication in migrating from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes: A focus on the UK," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 18-37.
    2. Brown, Judy, 2009. "Democracy, sustainability and dialogic accounting technologies: Taking pluralism seriously," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 313-342.
    3. Ahblom, Per & Sjögren, Ebba, 2019. "Delivering performance: the capital market framing of financial numbers from a preparer perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102819, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Daniel Plumley & Rob Wilson & Robbie Millar & Simon Shibli, 2019. "Howzat? The Financial Health of English Cricket: Not Out, Yet," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2011. "25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 494-513.
    6. McKernan, John Francis, 2007. "Objectivity in accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 155-180.
    7. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    8. Bayou, Mohamed E. & Reinstein, Alan & Williams, Paul F., 2011. "To tell the truth: A discussion of issues concerning truth and ethics in accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 109-124, February.
    9. Spence, Crawford & Carter, David, 2011. "Accounting for the General Intellect: Immaterial labour and the social factory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 304-315.
    10. Suzuki, Tomo, 2007. "Accountics: Impacts of internationally standardized accounting on the Japanese socio-economy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-301, April.
    11. Shapiro, B. P., 1998. "Toward a normative model of rational argumentation for critical accounting discussions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(7), pages 641-663, October.
    12. Graves, O. Finley & Flesher, Dale L. & Jordan, Robert E., 1996. "Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-88, January.
    13. Barker, Richard & Schulte, Sebastian, 2017. "Representing the market perspective: Fair value measurement for non-financial assets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 55-67.
    14. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Shapiro, Brian P., 1997. "Objectivity, relativism, and truth in external financial reporting: What's really at stake in the disputes?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 165-185, February.
    16. Davie, Shanta S.K., 2008. "An autoethnography of accounting knowledge production: Serendipitous and fortuitous choices for understanding our social world," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1054-1079.
    17. Horvat Robert & Korošec Bojana, 2015. "The Role of Accounting in a Society: Only a techn(olog)ical solution for the problem of economic measurement or also a tool of social ideology?," Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy, Sciendo, vol. 61(4), pages 32-40, August.
    18. Messner, Martin, 2009. "The limits of accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 918-938, November.
    19. Ogden, S. G., 1995. "Transforming frameworks of accountability: The case of water privatization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 193-218.
    20. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2006. "Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 819-841, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:22:y:1997:i:7:p:691-712. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aos .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.