Management accounting as a social control for privatisation

During the past 50 years micro-economists have argued with practicing accountants about the need for uniformity and uses of current market values in balance sheets. This article argues against this economic authoritarianism, seeking instead to follow the evolution of accounting reporting practice over 350 years. This has much in common with the nature of democratically induced business accountability in the modern era. The article discusses the effects of 1990s privatisation in Australia and challenges whether the benefits of achieving fiscal and political goals in economics outweigh the social costs of a redistribution of wealth away from citizens. Should public sector accounting standards and financial reports be used to justify disclosure in terms of government policies for the re-distribution of wealth? The recent economic turmoil that has focused on ailing economies, company collapses and falling markets brings economic policies into question and this socio-economic phenomenon is addressed here together with traditional foundations of financial accounting for recognition of bargained rights and associated equities among participants.