IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v95y2023ics1045235422000909.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The emancipatory potential of counter accounting: A Žižekian critique

Author

Listed:
  • Tweedie, Jonathan

Abstract

Today, we face a climate emergency that threatens the future of all life on earth. We live in societies scarred by deep and longstanding inequalities in power and wealth, and further fractured along lines of class, race, gender, sexuality, and nationality. In this turbulent context we must reflect as a community of critical researchers as to what role can we play in bringing about more just societies. Much of the critical accounting community is now invested in exploring how accounting itself might bring about change through “emancipatory” accounting ideas and technologies. A practice that is stimulating great interest within this project is counter accounting. Giving balance to a literature that has focused on articulating the emancipatory potential of counter accounting, in this paper I examine its emancipatory limits. Drawing on Žižek’s theory of ideology, I put forward a critique of the potential for counter accounting to affect transformative change. I argue that its reliance on an epistemological awakening as a catalyst for progressive change is based on a formulation of ideology critique and its effects that cannot be maintained.

Suggested Citation

  • Tweedie, Jonathan, 2023. "The emancipatory potential of counter accounting: A Žižekian critique," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:95:y:2023:i:c:s1045235422000909
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102505
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235422000909
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102505?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. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-03-2018-3432 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513579210017361 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-03-2016-2468 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Rob Gray & Andrew Brennan & Jeff Malpas, 2014. "New accounts: Towards a reframing of social accounting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 258-273, December.
    5. Armstrong, Peter, 1987. "The rise of accounting controls in British capitalist enterprises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 415-436, August.
    6. Donald MacKenzie, 2008. "An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633671, December.
    7. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Accounting for the fictitious: A Marxist contribution to understanding accounting's roles in the financial crisis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 63-82.
    8. Sanjay V. Lanka & Iqbal Khadaroo & Steffen Böhm, 2017. "Agroecology accounting: biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods from the margins," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1592-1613, September.
    9. Darlene Himick & Kate Ruff, 2019. "Counter accounts of profit: outrage to action through “just” calculation," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 699-726, July.
    10. Cheryl Lehman & Marcia Annisette & Gloria Agyemang, 2016. "Immigration and neoliberalism: three cases and counter accounts," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1), pages 43-79, January.
    11. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, James, 1991. "The aura of accounting in the context of a crisis: Germany and the first world war," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 487-520.
    12. Deegan, Craig, 2017. "Twenty five years of social and environmental accounting research within Critical Perspectives of Accounting: Hits, misses and ways forward," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 65-87.
    13. Erin Jade Twyford & Farzana Aman Tanima & Sendirella George, 2022. "Critical race theory, counter-accounting, and the emancipatory potential of counter-stories," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(9), pages 330-358, April.
    14. Andrew, Jane & Cortese, Corinne, 2013. "Free market environmentalism and the neoliberal project: The case of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 397-409.
    15. Pupovac, Sanja & Moerman, Lee, 2022. "Bringing Shell and Friends of the Earth on stage: A one-act spectacle of oil spills in the Niger Delta," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1983. "On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 8(2-3), pages 287-305, May.
    17. Vinnari, Eija & Laine, Matias, 2017. "The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-17.
    18. 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.
    19. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max, 2020. "The radical potential of leaks in the shadow accounting project: The case of US oil interests in Nigeria," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    20. Zhang, Ying & Andrew, Jane, 2014. "Financialisation and the Conceptual Framework," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 17-26.
    21. Morales, Jérémy & Sponem, Samuel, 2017. "You too can have a critical perspective! 25 years of Critical Perspectives on Accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 149-166.
    22. Christine Cooper, 2005. "Accounting for the public interest: public ineffectuals or public intellectuals?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(5), pages 592-607, October.
    23. Matias Laine & Eija Vinnari, 2017. "The transformative potential of counter accounts: a case study of animal rights activism," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1481-1510, September.
    24. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-12-2015-2363 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-07-2015-2142 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Andrew, Jane & Cahill, Damien, 2017. "Rationalising and resisting neoliberalism: The uneven geography of costs," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 12-28.
    27. Mercy Denedo & Ian Thomson & Akira Yonekura, 2017. "International advocacy NGOs, counter accounting, accountability and engagement," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(6), pages 1309-1343, August.
    28. Markus J. Milne & Helen Tregidga & Sara Walton, 2009. "Words not actions! The ideological role of sustainable development reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(8), pages 1211-1257, October.
    29. Catriona Paisey & Nicholas J. Paisey, 2006. "The internet and possibilities for counter accounts: some reflections," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(5), pages 774-778, September.
    30. Yingru Li & John McKernan, 2016. "Human rights, accounting, and the dialectic of equality and inequality," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 568-593, May.
    31. Tinker, Anthony M. & Merino, Barbara D. & Neimark, Marilyn Dale, 1982. "The normative origins of positive theories: Ideology and accounting thought," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 167-200, April.
    32. Puxty, A. G. & Willmott, Hugh C. & Cooper, David J. & Lowe, Tony, 1987. "Modes of regulation in advanced capitalism: Locating accountancy in four countries," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 273-291, April.
    33. Leanne J. Morrison & Alan Lowe, 2021. "Into the woods of corporate fairytales and environmental reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(4), pages 819-848, March.
    34. Tinker, Anthony M., 1980. "Towards a political economy of accounting: An empirical illustration of the cambridge controversies," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 147-160, January.
    35. Gray, Rob & Brennan, Andrew & Malpas, Jeff, 2014. "New accounts: Towards a reframing of social accounting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 258-273.
    36. Prem Sikka, 2006. "The internet and possibilities for counter accounts: some reflections," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(5), pages 759-769, September.
    37. Cho, Charles H. & Laine, Matias & Roberts, Robin W. & Rodrigue, Michelle, 2015. "Organized hypocrisy, organizational façades, and sustainability reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 78-94.
    38. Ian Thomson & Colin Dey & Shona Russell, 2015. "Activism, arenas and accounts in conflicts over tobacco control," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(5), pages 809-845, June.
    39. Jérémy Morales & Samuel Sponem, 2017. "You too can have a critical perspective! 25 years of Critical Perspectives on Accounting," Post-Print hal-01479941, HAL.
    40. Annisette, Marcia, 2000. "Imperialism and the professions: the education and certification of accountants in Trinidad and Tobago," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(7), pages 631-659, October.
    41. Lesley Catchpowle & Stewart Smyth, 2016. "Accounting and social movements: An exploration of critical accounting praxis," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 220-234, September.
    42. Brown, Judy & Tregidga, Helen, 2017. "Re-politicizing social and environmental accounting through Rancière: On the value of dissensus," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-21.
    43. Olivier Boiral, 2013. "Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(7), pages 1036-1071, September.
    44. Sonja Gallhofer & Jim Haslam & Elizabeth Monk & Clare Roberts, 2006. "Response to Prem Sikka's reflections on the internet and possibilities for counter accounts," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(5), pages 770-773, September.
    45. Arnold, Patricia J., 2009. "Global financial crisis: The challenge to accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 803-809, August.
    46. Oana Mihaela Apostol, 2015. "A project for Romania? The role of the civil society’s counter-accounts in facilitating democratic change in society," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(2), pages 210-241, February.
    47. Spence, Crawford, 2009. "Social accounting's emancipatory potential: A Gramscian critique," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 205-227.
    48. Perkiss, Stephanie & Bernardi, Cristiana & Dumay, John & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    49. Boyce, Gordon & Greer, Susan, 2013. "More than imagination: Making social and critical accounting real," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 105-112.
    50. Yingru Li & John McKernan, 2016. "Human rights, accounting, and the dialectic of equality and inequality," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 568-593, May.
    51. Christine Cooper, 1992. "The Non and Nom of Accounting for (M)other Nature," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3), pages 1-1, September.
    52. Mercy Denedo & Ian Thomson & Akira Yonekura, 2019. "Ecological damage, human rights and oil: local advocacy NGOs dialogic action and alternative accounting practices," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 85-112, January.
    53. Peter Miller, 1998. "The margins of accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 605-621.
    54. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2017. "A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 88-109.
    55. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2019. "Some reflections on the construct of emancipatory accounting: Shifting meaning and the possibilities of a new pragmatism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    56. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-12-2015-2324 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Sendirella George & Erin Twyford & Farzana Aman Tanima, 2024. "Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Asylum Seekers: the Silencing of Accounting and Accountability in Offshore Detention Centres," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(4), pages 861-885, November.

    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. George, Sendirella & Brown, Judy & Dillard, Jesse, 2023. "Social movement activists’ conceptions of political action and counter-accounting through a critical dialogic accounting and accountability lens," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Stacchezzini, Riccardo & Masiero, Eleonora & Lai, Alessandro, 2023. "Histories as counter-accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Martinez, Daniel & Himick, Darlene, 2023. "Accounting in (direct) action: Prefiguring emancipation in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Gómez-Villegas, Mauricio & Ariza-Buenaventura, Danilo, 2024. "Accounting and social mobilization: The counter accounts of the university student movement in Colombia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.
    6. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Perkiss, Stephanie & Bernardi, Cristiana & Dumay, John & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    8. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max, 2020. "The radical potential of leaks in the shadow accounting project: The case of US oil interests in Nigeria," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Bigoni, Michele & Mohammed, Sideeq, 2023. "Critique is unsustainable: A polemic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    10. O’Leary, Susan & Smith, David, 2020. "Moments of resistance: An internally persuasive view of performance and impact reports in non-governmental organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    11. Ruff, Katherine, 2022. "In support of making up users," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Morales, Jérémy & Sponem, Samuel, 2017. "You too can have a critical perspective! 25 years of Critical Perspectives on Accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 149-166.
    13. Pazzi, Silvia & Svetlova, Ekaterina, 2023. "NGOs, public accountability, and critical accounting education: Making data speak," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    14. Sorola, Matthew, 2022. "Q methodology to conduct a critical study in accounting: A Q study on accountants’ perspectives of social and environmental reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    15. Vinnari, Eija & Laine, Matias, 2017. "The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-17.
    16. Blanco-Zaitegi, Goizeder & Álvarez Etxeberria, Igor & Moneva, José M., 2024. "Impression management of biodiversity reporting in the energy and utilities sectors: An assessment of transparency in the disclosure of negative events," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    17. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    18. Rogerson, Michael & Scarpa, Francesco & Snelson-Powell, Annie, 2024. "Accounting for human rights: Evidence of due diligence in EU-listed firms’ reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    19. Correa, Carmen & Laine, Matias & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2023. "Taking the world seriously: Autonomy, reflexivity and engagement research in social and environmental accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Roszkowska-Menkes, Maria & Aluchna, Maria & Kamiński, Bogumił, 2024. "True transparency or mere decoupling? The study of selective disclosure in sustainability reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    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:95:y:2023:i:c:s1045235422000909. 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.