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Accounting for suffering: Calculative practices in the field of disaster relief

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  • Sargiacomo, Massimo
  • Ianni, Luca
  • Everett, Jeff

Abstract

This study examines the role of accounting and other calculative practices in the context of a natural disaster and subsequent emergency-relief effort. Relying on document analysis and interviews with key participants, the study chronologically examines when, how, and with what effects accounting and other associated practices were mobilized in the follow-up to an earthquake that occurred in the Abruzzo region of central Italy in 2009. The study considers these practices through the three lenses of private-interest maximization, inequality, and suffering. The study shows how accounting actors simultaneously serve multiple ethical masters, and how one of these can come to dominate accounting's ‘moral economy’. In so doing, the study helps bridge the gap between ethics and critical accounting research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sargiacomo, Massimo & Ianni, Luca & Everett, Jeff, 2014. "Accounting for suffering: Calculative practices in the field of disaster relief," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 652-669.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:25:y:2014:i:7:p:652-669
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2014.03.011
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    Cited by:

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    3. Sargiacomo, Massimo, 2015. "Earthquakes, exceptional government and extraordinary accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 67-89.
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    6. Matilal, Sumohon & Adhikari, Pawan, 2020. "Accounting in Bhopal: Making catastrophe," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Gendron, Yves, 2018. "On the elusive nature of critical (accounting) research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-12.
    8. 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.
    9. Shiraz Rahaman, Abu & Neu, Dean & Everett, Jeff, 2024. "Accounting artifacts and the reformation of a national healthcare system," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Lehman, Cheryl R. & Hammond, Theresa & Agyemang, Gloria, 2018. "Accounting for crime in the US: Race, class and the spectacle of fear," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 63-75.
    11. Finau, Glenn & Chand, Satish, 2023. "Resistance is fertile: A Bourdieusian analysis of accounting and land reform in Fiji," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    12. Stefania Servalli & Massimo Sargiacomo, 2021. "Natural disasters and accounting: Which contributions form the past?," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 5-9.
    13. Frey-Heger, Corinna & Barrett, Michael, 2021. "Possibilities and limits of social accountability: The consequences of visibility as recognition and exposure in refugee crises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
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    16. Jonida Carungu & Nicola Paolicelli, 2018. "L?intervento della Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena e il contributo del book-keeping nel "render conto" sulla gestione del terremoto del 1798," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 85-117.
    17. Perkiss, Stephanie & Moerman, Lee, 2020. "Hurricane Katrina: Exploring justice and fairness as a sociology of common good(s)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 67.
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