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Metaphors and accounting for stock options

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  • Walters, Melissa
  • Young, Joni J.

Abstract

This essay explores the role that metaphor has played in the conceptualization of the controversial accounting for stock options issue. We explore the particular metaphors engaged within the stock options discourse over time through reference to dialogues appearing in the professional and popular business press and related hearings. Our analysis begins with the 1993 issuance of a FASB exposure draft (to require expense recognition) and ends with the reconsideration of the accounting for stock options issue by the FASB in 2003. We find that the dominant metaphors engaged change over time and differ markedly in their renderings of stock options and stock options accounting. Metaphors appearing earlier in the debate, engaged against the backdrop of a stalled economy and high hopes for an economic recovery driven by the tech industry, carry positive attitudes with respect to the use of options with corollary rational prescriptions for accounting policy. In contrast, later metaphors, engaged within a markedly different socio-economic frame, carry derogatory attitudes with respect to the use of stock options implying decidedly different rationalizations regarding accounting policy. We close by discussing the significance of metaphor in accounting policy debates.

Suggested Citation

  • Walters, Melissa & Young, Joni J., 2008. "Metaphors and accounting for stock options," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 805-833.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:19:y:2008:i:5:p:805-833
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2006.10.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tony Tinker, 1986. "Metaphor Or Reification: Are Radical Humanists Really Libertarian Anarchists?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 363-384, July.
    2. Walters, Melissa, 2004. "Alternative accounting thought and the prison-house of metaphor," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 157-187, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Edgley, Carla, 2014. "A genealogy of accounting materiality," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 255-271.
    2. Lambert Jerman, 2013. "La Juste Valeur : Une Comptabilite Actuarielle Pour Les Marches ... Ou Les Comptables ?," Post-Print hal-00991877, HAL.
    3. Rouba Chantiri-Chaudemanche, 2012. "Quand Normalisation Comptable Et Rhetorique Font Bon Menage ... Un Essai D'Organisation De La Litterature," Post-Print hal-00936631, HAL.
    4. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2009. "Making imaginary worlds real: The case of expensing employee stock options," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 770-786, August.
    5. Young, Joni J. & Williams, Paul F., 2010. "Sorting and comparing: Standard-setting and “ethical” categories," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 509-521.
    6. Nien-Chi Liu & Ming-Yuan Chen & Mei-Ling Wang, 2016. "The Effects of Non-Expensed Employee Stock Bonus on Firm Performance: Evidence from Taiwanese High-Tech Firms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 30-54, March.
    7. Amernic, Joel & Craig, Russell, 2009. "Understanding accounting through conceptual metaphor: ACCOUNTING IS AN INSTRUMENT?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 875-883.
    8. Gibbon, Jane, 2012. "Understandings of accountability: an autoethnographic account using metaphor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 201-212.
    9. Moerman, Lee & van der Laan, Sandra, 2011. "Accounting for long-tail asbestos liabilities: Metaphor and meaning," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 11-18.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/13729 is not listed on IDEAS

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