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“No accounting for these people”: Shell in Ireland and accounting language

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  • Killian, Sheila

Abstract

Accounting lays claims to be the language of business: a clear, technical, unambiguous means of communication for decisions on investment and economic development. Accounting concepts have increasingly entered mainstream debate on issues affecting society at large. This makes the fairness and effectiveness of accounting as a mode of communication more important for social justice than ever before. In a contentious development, if the discussion is framed primarily in accounting terms, this may disenfranchise those parties to the dispute whose issues are not readily expressed in the common vocabulary of business. Their concerns may become invisible in the debate. If this happens, then accounting has failed as a means of communication, and that failure is non-neutral in that it favours those whose position is best supported by economic arguments.

Suggested Citation

  • Killian, Sheila, 2010. "“No accounting for these people”: Shell in Ireland and accounting language," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 711-723.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:21:y:2010:i:8:p:711-723
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2010.08.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Pesci, Caterina & Costa, Ericka & Andreaus, Michele, 2020. "Using accountability to shape the common good," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 67.

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