IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v23y2012i3p183-200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The SEC's retail investor 2.0: Interactive data and the rise of calculative accountability

Author

Listed:
  • Lowe, Alan
  • Locke, Joanne
  • Lymer, Andy

Abstract

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States mandated a new digital reporting system for US companies in late 2008. The new generation of information provision has been dubbed by Chairman Cox, ‘interactive data’ (SEC, 2006a). Despite the promise of its name, we find that in the development of the project retail investors are invoked as calculative actors rather than engaged in dialogue. Similarly, the potential for the underlying technology to be applied in ways to encourage new forms of accountability appears to be forfeited in the interests of enrolling company filers.

Suggested Citation

  • Lowe, Alan & Locke, Joanne & Lymer, Andy, 2012. "The SEC's retail investor 2.0: Interactive data and the rise of calculative accountability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 183-200.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:23:y:2012:i:3:p:183-200
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.12.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235411001705
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2011.12.004?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. Sonja Gallhofer & Jim Haslam & Elizabeth Monk & Clare Roberts, 2006. "The emancipatory potential of online reporting: The case of counter accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(5), pages 681-718, September.
    2. Dillard, Jesse, 2008. "Responding to expanding accountability regimes by re-presenting organizational context," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 21-42.
    3. Oliver, Bl, 1974. "Semantic Differential - Device For Measuring Interprofessional Communication Of Selected Accounting Concepts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 299-316.
    4. Thomas Clarke, 2004. "Cycles of Crisis and Regulation: the enduring agency and stewardship problems of corporate governance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 153-161, April.
    5. Preston, Alistair M. & Cooper, David J. & Coombs, Rod W., 1992. "Fabricating budgets: A study of the production of management budgeting in the national health service," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 561-593, August.
    6. Roberts, John, 2009. "No one is perfect: The limits of transparency and an ethic for 'intelligent' accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 957-970, November.
    7. Sinclair, Amanda, 1995. "The chameleon of accountability: Forms and discourses," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 219-237.
    8. Robson, Keith, 1991. "On the arenas of accounting change: The process of translation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 547-570.
    9. Peter Miller, 2008. "Calculating Economic Life," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 51-64, March.
    10. Unerman, Jeffrey & Bennett, Mark, 2004. "Increased stakeholder dialogue and the internet: towards greater corporate accountability or reinforcing capitalist hegemony?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 685-707, October.
    11. Dechow, Niels & Mouritsen, Jan, 2005. "Enterprise resource planning systems, management control and the quest for integration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 691-733.
    12. David Crowther, 2000. "Corporate Reporting, Stakeholders and the Internet: Mapping the New Corporate Landscape," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(10), pages 1837-1848, September.
    13. C. Richard Baker, 2006. "Epistemological objectivity in financial reporting: Does internet accounting require a new accounting model?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(5), pages 663-680, September.
    14. Young, Joni J., 2006. "Making up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 579-600, August.
    15. Sonja Gallhofer & Jim Haslam, 2006. "Online reporting: accounting in cybersociety," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(5), pages 625-630, September.
    16. 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.
    17. Brown, Judy, 2009. "Democracy, sustainability and dialogic accounting technologies: Taking pluralism seriously," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 313-342.
    18. Donald MacKenzie, 2006. "An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262134608, April.
    19. Chua, Wai Fong, 1995. "Experts, networks and inscriptions in the fabrication of accounting images: A story of the representation of three public hospitals," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 111-145.
    20. Roberts, John, 1991. "The possibilities of accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 355-368.
    21. Power, Michael & Laughlin, Richard, 1996. "Habermas, law and accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 441-465, July.
    22. Briers, Michael & Chua, Wai Fong, 2001. "The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 237-269, April.
    23. 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. Valentinetti, Diego & Flores Muñoz, Francisco, 2021. "Internet of things: Emerging impacts on digital reporting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 549-562.
    2. Lai, Alessandro & Leoni, Giulia & Stacchezzini, Riccardo, 2014. "The socializing effects of accounting in flood recovery," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 579-603.
    3. Rana, Tarek & Cordery, Carolyn J., 2024. "Digitalization as a form of marketization: The performativity of calculative practices in framing and overflowing NGO performance and accountability," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    4. Rana, Tarek & Hoque, Zahirul, 2020. "Institutionalising multiple accountability logics in public services: Insights from Australia," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(4).
    5. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    6. Killian, Sheila, 2015. "“For lack of accountability”: The logic of the price in Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 17-32.

    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. Daniela Ruggeri & Carmela Rizza, 2017. "Accounting information system innovation in interfirm relationships," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 203-225, May.
    2. Vollmer, Hendrik & Mennicken, Andrea & Preda, Alex, 2009. "Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance, organizations and markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 619-637, July.
    3. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    4. Dambrin, Claire & Robson, Keith, 2011. "Tracing performance in the pharmaceutical industry: Ambivalence, opacity and the performativity of flawed measures," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 428-455.
    5. Lennon, Niels Joseph, 2019. "Responsibility accounting, managerial action and ‘a counter-ability’: Relating the physical and virtual spaces of decision-making," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    6. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    7. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2019. "Critical dialogical accountability: From accounting-based accountability to accountability-based accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 16-38.
    8. Muhammad Kaleem Zahir-ul-Hassan & Reinald A. Minnaar & Ed Vosselman, 2016. "Governance and control as mediating instruments in an inter-firm relationship: towards collaboration or transactions?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(4), pages 365-389, June.
    9. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2007. "Management accounting as practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 1-27.
    10. Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen, 2011. "Effects of actor‐network theory in accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 161-193, February.
    11. 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.
    12. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    13. Yves Levant & Simon Alcouffe & Nicolas Berland, 2008. "Actor-networks and the diffusion of management accounting innovations : a comparative study," Post-Print hal-01682216, HAL.
    14. Irvine, Helen & Moerman, Lee, 2017. "Gambling with the public sphere: Accounting’s contribution to debate on social issues," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 35-52.
    15. Oakes, Helen & Berry, Anthony, 2009. "Accounting colonization: Three case studies in further education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 343-378.
    16. 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.
    17. Benjamin Dreveton & Sébastien Rocher, 2009. "The success story of a ‘successful?' management device," Post-Print halshs-00479810, HAL.
    18. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Dorthe Windeck & Jürgen Weber & Erik Strauss, 2015. "Enrolling managers to accept the business partner: the role of boundary objects," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 617-653, August.
    20. Messner, Martin, 2009. "The limits of accountability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 918-938, 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:crpeac:v:23:y:2012:i:3:p:183-200. 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.