IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/aaajpp/v22y2009i6p883-906.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Icon, iconography, iconology

Author

Listed:
  • Jane Davison

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the entangling of economic, social and cultural values which circulate in visual branding, reflect business practice and add intangibles to organisations. Design/methodology/approach - The study is placed in the context of the difficulties and shortcomings of accounting for brands. A conceptual framework is constructed, based in critical theory from arts disciplines, notably from the thought of Barthes, Panofsky and Peirce. The icon is a primary denotation or representation. Iconography is a secondary level of coded meaning. Iconology is an interpretation that calls on the unconscious. Intermingling of the icon and the logos is considered. This accounting context and arts framework are used to compare the financial statements of the Bradford & Bingley Bank with its visual branding. Findings - The financial statements are almost silent regarding brands, in line with regulation. In response to the greater competition that accompanied deregulation and globalisation, the Bank's lending and funding practices become more innovative. The visual framework reveals a changing iconography and iconology where class, detectives, music hall and the bowler‐object may be discerned. An iconology is suggested of dreamlike connotations and magical powers in the collective unconscious. The Bradford & Bingley have actively managed their visual branding to reflect and appeal to a changing society, and a more competitive business environment. Research limitations/implications - The study provides a model which may be applied to visual aspects of financial reporting and branding. It would benefit from an assessment of readership impact. Practical implications - The analysis is of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors. It illuminates the ways in which visual branding interacts with business practices and conveys intangible values that are not reflected in the accounts. Originality/value - The paper augments theoretical and empirical work on visual images in accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Jane Davison, 2009. "Icon, iconography, iconology," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(6), pages 883-906, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:22:y:2009:i:6:p:883-906
    DOI: 10.1108/09513570910980454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513570910980454/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513570910980454/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/09513570910980454?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. Eric Guthey & Brad Jackson, 2005. "CEO Portraits and the Authenticity Paradox," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 1057-1082, July.
    2. Preston, Alistair M. & Young, Joni J., 2000. "Constructing the global corporation and corporate constructions of the global: a picture essay," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(4-5), pages 427-449, May.
    3. Hirschey, M & Weygandt, Jj, 1985. "Amortization Policy For Advertising And Research And Development Expenditures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 326-335.
    4. Michael Power, 1992. "The politics of brand accounting in the United Kingdom," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 39-68.
    5. Graves, O. Finley & Flesher, Dale L. & Jordan, Robert E., 1996. "Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-88, January.
    6. Jane Davison, 2007. "Photographs and accountability: cracking the codes of an NGO," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 133-158, March.
    7. Benschop, Yvonne & Meihuizen, Hanne E., 2002. "Keeping up gendered appearances: representations of gender in financial annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 611-636, October.
    8. Stolowy, Herve & Haller, Axel & Klockhaus, Volker, 2001. "Accounting for brands in France and Germany compared with IAS 38 (intangible assets): An illustration of the difficulty of international harmonization," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 147-167, May.
    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. Davison, Jane, 2011. "Paratextual framing of the annual report: Liminal literary conventions and visual devices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 118-134.
    2. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Cristina‐Andrea Araújo‐Bernardo, 2020. "What colour is the corporate social responsibility report? Structural visual rhetoric, impression management strategies, and stakeholder engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 1117-1142, March.
    3. Ang, Lawrence & Hellmann, Andreas & Kanbaty, Majid & Sood, Suresh, 2020. "Emotional and attentional influences of photographs on impression management and financial decision making," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    4. Hrasky, Sue, 2012. "Visual disclosure strategies adopted by more and less sustainability-driven companies," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 154-165.
    5. Carnegie, Garry D. & Napier, Christopher J., 2010. "Traditional accountants and business professionals: Portraying the accounting profession after Enron," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 360-376, April.
    6. Davison, Jane, 2014. "Visual rhetoric and the case of intellectual capital," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 20-37.
    7. McFall, Liz, 2014. "Devising Consumption: cultural economies of insurance, credit and spending," OSF Preprints at2nv, Center for Open Science.
    8. Claire France Picard & Sylvain Durocher & Yves Gendron, 2013. "From Meticulous Professionals To Superheroes Of The Business World: A Historical Portrait Of A Cultural Change In The Field Of Accountancy," Post-Print hal-00993019, HAL.

    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. Davison, Jane, 2014. "Visual rhetoric and the case of intellectual capital," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 20-37.
    2. Davison, Jane, 2010. "[In]visible [in]tangibles: Visual portraits of the business élite," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 165-183, February.
    3. Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen, 2009. "The triple visual," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(6), pages 973-990, July.
    4. Jane Davison, 2008. "Rhetoric, repetition, reporting and the “dot.com” era: words, pictures, intangibles," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(6), pages 791-826, August.
    5. Jane Davison & Samantha Warren, 2009. "Imag[in]ing accounting and accountability," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(6), pages 845-857, July.
    6. Jane Davison, 2011. "Barthesian perspectives on accounting communication and visual images of professional accountancy," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 250-283, February.
    7. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    8. Lee D. Parker, 2009. "Photo‐elicitation: an ethno‐historical accounting and management research prospect," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 1111-1129, September.
    9. David Campbell & Ken McPhail & Richard Slack, 2009. "Face work in annual reports," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(6), pages 907-932, July.
    10. Claire France Picard & Sylvain Durocher & Yves Gendron, 2013. "From Meticulous Professionals To Superheroes Of The Business World: A Historical Portrait Of A Cultural Change In The Field Of Accountancy," Post-Print hal-00993019, HAL.
    11. Duff, Angus, 2011. "Big four accounting firms’ annual reviews: A photo analysis of gender and race portrayals," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 20-38.
    12. Jane Davison, 2007. "Photographs and accountability: cracking the codes of an NGO," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 133-158, March.
    13. Jill Hooks & Natasja Steenkamp & Ross Stewart, 2010. "Interpreting pictorial messages of intellectual capital in company media," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(3), pages 353-378, August.
    14. Judy Brown, 2010. "Accounting and visual cultural studies: potentialities, challenges and prospects," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(4), pages 482-505, May.
    15. Carmona, Salvador & Ezzamel, Mahmoud, 2016. "Accounting and lived experience in the gendered workplace," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-8.
    16. Graham, Cameron, 2008. "Fearful asymmetry: The consumption of accounting signs in the Algoma Steel pension bailout," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 756-782.
    17. Hans Rämö, 2011. "Visualizing the Phronetic Organization: The Case of Photographs in CSR Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 371-387, December.
    18. Malsch, Bertrand & Gendron, Yves, 2009. "Mythical representations of trust in auditors and the preservation of social order in the financial community," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 735-750.
    19. Dhanani, Alpa, 2019. "Identity constructions in the annual reports of international development NGOs: Preserving institutional interests?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-31.
    20. Young, Joni J., 2017. "Comment on: Casting call: The expanding nature of actorhood in U.S. Firms, 1960–2010 by Patricia Bromley and Amanda Sharkey," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 27-30.

    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:eme:aaajpp:v:22:y:2009:i:6:p:883-906. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.