IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v20y2009i8p875-883.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding accounting through conceptual metaphor: ACCOUNTING IS AN INSTRUMENT?

Author

Listed:
  • Amernic, Joel
  • Craig, Russell

Abstract

This paper extends the conversation about metaphors in accounting that were presented in this journal by McGoun et al. [McGoun EG, Bettner MS, Coyne MP. Pedagogic metaphors and the nature of accounting signification. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 2007a;18:213–30; McGoun EG, Bettner MS, Coyne MP. Money n’ motion—born to be wild. Critical Perspectives on Accounting;2007b;18:343–61.]. Our aim is to promote further critical conversations about how metaphor is implicated in accounting. We assemble and review some of the empirical evidence we have gathered from close readings of discourse about accounting over the past decade. Based on this empirical grounding, we propose that the fundamental conceptual metaphor, ACCOUNTING IS AN INSTRUMENT, has been deployed commonly to describe the essence of accounting. We contend that such deployment has insidious, distortive and confounding outcomes because it encourages belief that accounting is incapable of reporting other than with representational faithfulness; and that it confounds the (alleged) primary qualitative characteristics of accounting information (relevance and reliability) outlined in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's SFAC 2 Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:20:y:2009:i:8:p:875-883
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2009.06.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235409000707
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2009.06.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Walters, Melissa & Young, Joni J., 2008. "Metaphors and accounting for stock options," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 805-833.
    2. Eero Vaara & Janne Tienari & Risto Santti, 2003. "The international match: Metaphors as vehicles of social identity building in cross-border mergers," Post-Print hal-02311681, HAL.
    3. Russell Craig & Joel Amernic, 2008. "A privatization success story: accounting and narrative expression over time," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(8), pages 1085-1115, October.
    4. Hines, Ruth D., 1988. "Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 251-261, April.
    5. Steven Pinker & George Lakoff, 2007. "Does language frame politics?," Public Policy Review, Institute for Public Policy Research, vol. 14(1), pages 59-71, March.
    6. Cynthia Hardy, 2001. "Researching Organizational Discourse," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 25-47, September.
    7. Nelson Espeland, Wendy & Hirsch, Paul M., 1990. "Ownership changes, accounting practice and the redefinition of the corporation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 77-96.
    8. Walters, Melissa, 2004. "Alternative accounting thought and the prison-house of metaphor," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 157-187, February.
    9. Robson, Keith, 1992. "Accounting numbers as "inscription": Action at a distance and the development of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 685-708, October.
    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. Stéphanie Chatelain-Ponroy & Olivier Vidal, 2013. "Comptabilité Sans Frontières : Intérêt D'Une Cartographie," Post-Print hal-00997956, HAL.
    2. Edgley, Carla, 2014. "A genealogy of accounting materiality," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 255-271.
    3. Amernic, Joel & Craig, Russell, 2017. "CEO speeches and safety culture: British Petroleum before the Deepwater Horizon disaster," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 61-80.
    4. Gårseth-Nesbakk, Levi, 2011. "Accrual accounting representations in the public sector—A case of autopoiesis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 247-258.
    5. Stéphanie Chatelain-Ponroy & Olivier Vidal, 2013. "Comptabilité sans frontières: intérêt d'une cartographie," Post-Print halshs-00829410, HAL.
    6. Imoleayo F. Obigbemi & Eddy O. Omolehinwa & Dick Oluku Mukoro & Egbide Ben-Caleb & Olamide Adeola Olusanmi, 2016. "Earnings Management and Board Structure," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(3), pages 21582440166, September.
    7. Gibbon, Jane, 2012. "Understandings of accountability: an autoethnographic account using metaphor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 201-212.
    8. Stéphanie Chatelain-Ponroy & Olivier Vidal, 2013. "Comptabilité sans frontières : intérêt d'une cartographie," Post-Print hal-00991943, HAL.

    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. Merkl-Davies, Doris M. & Koller, Veronika, 2012. "‘Metaphoring’ people out of this world: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a chairman's statement of a UK defence firm," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 178-193.
    2. Suzuki, Tomo, 2003. "The accounting figuration of business statistics as a foundation for the spread of economic ideas," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 65-95, January.
    3. Thomas Carrington & Gustav Johed, 2007. "The construction of top management as a good steward," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(5), pages 702-728, September.
    4. Quattrone, Paolo, 2009. "Books to be practiced: Memory, the power of the visual, and the success of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 85-118, January.
    5. Power, Michael, 2015. "How accounting begins: Object formation and the accretion of infrastructure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 43-55.
    6. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    7. Komori, Naoko, 2015. "Beneath the globalization paradox: Towards the sustainability of cultural diversity in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 141-156.
    8. 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.
    9. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    10. Gibbon, Jane, 2012. "Understandings of accountability: an autoethnographic account using metaphor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 201-212.
    11. Edgley, Carla, 2014. "A genealogy of accounting materiality," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 255-271.
    12. Quattrone, Paolo & Hopper, Trevor, 2005. "A 'time-space odyssey': management control systems in two multinational organisations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 735-764.
    13. Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2013. "Adding critical accounting voices to migration studies," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 261-272.
    14. Matilal, Sumohon & Adhikari, Pawan, 2020. "Accounting in Bhopal: Making catastrophe," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Rautiainen, Antti & Scapens, Robert W. & Järvenpää, Marko & Auvinen, Tommi & Sajasalo, Pasi, 2024. "Towards fluid role identity of management accountants: A case study of a Finnish bank," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    17. Mouritsen, Jan & Hansen, Allan & Hansen, Carsten Ørts, 2009. "Short and long translations: Management accounting calculations and innovation management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 738-754, August.
    18. 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.
    19. Baker, C. Richard & Biondi, Yuri & Zhang, Qiusheng, 2010. "Disharmony in international accounting standards setting: The Chinese approach to accounting for business combinations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 107-117.
    20. Duval, Anne-Marie & Gendron, Yves & Roux-Dufort, Christophe, 2015. "Exhibiting nongovernmental organizations: Reifying the performance discourse through framing power," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 31-53.

    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:crpeac:v:20:y:2009:i:8:p:875-883. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    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.