IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v96y2023ics104523542200123x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Let the right one in: ‘Accounting proxemics’ in the design of performance indicators

Author

Listed:
  • Sundström, Andreas
  • Catasús, Bino

Abstract

The study introduces the notion of accounting proxemics to analyse the relationships between accounts, action, and distance. Earlier literature has emphasized that distance is a problem in accounting, relating not least to the issues of representational distance as well as the relationship between distance and control. While earlier research has convincingly shown that accounting and distance are interlinked, the ways in which various concerns with distance are addressed in practice have received less attention. In response, this paper develops the notion of accounting proxemics to analytically approach questions about how various concerns with distance are addressed in practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Sundström, Andreas & Catasús, Bino, 2023. "Let the right one in: ‘Accounting proxemics’ in the design of performance indicators," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:96:y:2023:i:c:s104523542200123x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102538
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104523542200123X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102538?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. Robson, Keith, 1994. "Inflation accounting and action at a distance: The sandilands episode," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 45-82, January.
    2. Bino Catasús & Sofi Ersson & Jan‐Erik Gröjer & Fan Yang Wallentin, 2007. "What gets measured gets … on indicating, mobilizing and acting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(4), pages 505-521, July.
    3. Wim Van der Stede, 2003. "The effect of national culture on management control and incentive system design in multi-business firms: evidence of intracorporate isomorphism," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 263-285.
    4. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1978. "Accounting research and the world of action," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 93-95, June.
    5. Ingrid Jeacle, 2009. "Accounting and everyday life: towards a cultural context for accounting research," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(3), pages 120-136, July.
    6. Pentland, Brian T., 1993. "Getting comfortable with the numbers: Auditing and the micro-production of macro-order," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(7-8), pages 605-620.
    7. Preston, Alistair M., 2006. "Enabling, enacting and maintaining action at a distance: An historical case study of the role of accounts in the reduction of the Navajo herds," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 559-578, August.
    8. Roberts, John & Scapens, Robert, 1985. "Accounting systems and systems of accountability -- understanding accounting practices in their organisational contexts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 443-456, October.
    9. Asdal, Kristin, 2011. "The office: The weakness of numbers and the production of non-authority," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 1-9, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Swieringa, Robert J. & Weick, Karl R., 1987. "Management accounting and action," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 293-308, April.
    12. Thomas Carrington & Bino Catasus, 2007. "Auditing Stories about Discomfort: Becoming Comfortable with Comfort Theory," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 35-58.
    13. Qu, Sandy Q. & Cooper, David J., 2011. "The role of inscriptions in producing a balanced scorecard," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 344-362.
    14. 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.
    15. Preston, Alistair M. & Chua, Wai-Fong & Neu, Dean, 1997. "The Diagnosis-Related Group-Prospective Payment System and the problem of the government of rationing health care to the elderly," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 147-164, February.
    16. Ramirez, Carlos, 2009. "Constructing the governable small practitioner: The changing nature of professional bodies and the management of professional accountants' identities in the UK," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 381-408, April.
    17. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2007. "How to do more with numbers: Elementary stakes, framing, keying, and the three-dimensional character of numerical signs," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 577-600, August.
    18. Hall, Matthew, 2010. "Accounting information and managerial work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 301-315, April.
    19. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Lilley, Simon & Willmott, Hugh, 2004. "Accounting representation and the road to commercial salvation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 783-813, November.
    20. Corvellec, Hervé & Ek, Richard & Zapata, Patrik & Zapata Campos, María José, 2018. "Acting on distances: A topology of accounting inscriptions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 56-65.
    21. Miller, Peter, 1991. "Accounting innovation beyond the enterprise: Problematizing investment decisions and programming economic growth in the U.K. in the 1960s," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 733-762.
    22. Peter Miller, 1998. "The margins of accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 605-621.
    23. Hines, Ruth D., 1988. "Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 251-261, April.
    24. Jordan, Silvia & Messner, Martin, 2012. "Enabling control and the problem of incomplete performance indicators," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 544-564.
    25. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony & Hughes, John & Nahapiet, Janine, 1980. "The roles of accounting in organizations and society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 5-27, January.
    26. Yu, Lichen & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "Accounting, simultaneity and relative completeness: The sales and operations planning forecast and the enactment of the ‘demand chain’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    27. Jeacle, Ingrid & Carter, Chris, 2011. "In TripAdvisor we trust: Rankings, calculative regimes and abstract systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 293-309.
    28. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    2. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    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. Palermo, Tommaso & Power, Michael & Ashby, Simon, 2022. "How accounting ends: self-undermining repetition in accounting lifecycles," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2011. "25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 494-513.
    6. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    7. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    8. Paul Andon & Jane Baxter & Wai Fong Chua, 2015. "Accounting for Stakeholders and Making Accounting Useful," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(7), pages 986-1002, November.
    9. Pucci, Richard & Skærbæk, Peter, 2020. "The co-performation of financial economics in accounting standard-setting: A study of the translation of the expected credit loss model in IFRS 9," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. 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.
    11. Mouritsen, Jan & Kreiner, Kristian, 2016. "Accounting, decisions and promises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 21-31.
    12. Lorino, Philippe & Mourey, Damien & Schmidt, Géraldine, 2017. "Goffman's theory of frames and situated meaning-making in performance reviews. The case of a category management approach in the French retail sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-49.
    13. 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.
    14. Pollock, Neil & D’Adderio, Luciana, 2012. "Give me a two-by-two matrix and I will create the market: Rankings, graphic visualisations and sociomateriality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 565-586.
    15. Boedker, Christina & Chong, Kar-Ming & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "The counter-performativity of calculative practices: Mobilising rankings of intellectual capital," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    16. Mehrpouya, Afshin & Samiolo, Rita, 2016. "Performance measurement in global governance: Ranking and the politics of variability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 12-31.
    17. Robson, Keith & Ezzamel, Mahmoud, 2023. "The cultural fields of accounting practices: Institutionalization and accounting changes beyond the organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Pflueger, Dane, 2016. "Knowing patients: The customer survey and the changing margins of accounting in healthcare," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 17-33.
    20. 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.

    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:96:y:2023:i:c:s104523542200123x. 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.