Succession in times of financial uncertainty: a case of a German construction family business through the accountant's lens

Succession in family businesses in times of financial uncertainty is the topic of the current study. The study highlights conflicts that may arise when sharing management and accounting functions and when seeking to determine senior management succession, as investigated through the accountant's lens. Bourdieu's theory of practice is used as the exploratory and explanatory theoretical foundation, which supports data collection and analysis. A qualitative methodology is employed to focus in particular on family members' perceptions of their family business situation and family habitus. Data was collected via two methods: interviews and participant observation, due to available access and also for the purpose of triangulation. The former took place formally and each interview was manually transcribed, the latter took place in an informal setting, thus no taping or immediate transcripts were possible. The study's findings illustrate a case of succession in a small German family business in times of financial uncertainty. It explores the habitus of the family in the context of the business, and utilises the accounting habitus to analyse data through the accountant's lens.