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8/8/2019 Cooper and Hopper 1987 -- Critical Studies in Accounting
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408 DAV1D . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER
tal psychol ogy into the account ing domain
(Burns, 1972). Accordingly, the contri buti ons
to the Conference, and particularly to the special
issues, experienced a penetrating review pro-
cess. For this special issue, all the pap ers wer e re-
vised following two referees' reports prior topresentation at the Conference and each bene-
fited from an expert comm ent ary at the confer-
ence itself. These revised papers were then re-
viewed by at least two further independent
specialists.
This introductory essay explores two issues
which arise out o f a joint reading.of the six pap-
ers in this issue. Elsewhere we have commented
on the rise (and perhaps demise) of the critical
accounting movement (Cooper & Hopper, in
press). Here we focus on why and ho w account-
ing is important in mode rn soc iety and how we
may conceive of "interests" in explaining this
significance.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ACCOUNTING
The accounti ng profession in the U.K. and
U.S.A. must surely be one of the growth indus-
tries of the last twent y years (Stevens, 1982;
Renshall, 1984). With the increasing legal re-
quirements for audit in the EEC, this growth is
likely to extend to many other countries inEurope. The accounti ng industry is one of the
largest empl oyers o f graduates in the U.K. and
U.S.A. Oth er images of acco unta nts are ambigu-
ous. Accou ntan ts are often seen as tedious book-
keepers and dull, trustwor thy auditors. Yet other
images focus on the world of international fi-
nance and the role of account ing in efficiency
studies, both in the private and public sectors.
The image of accountants as powerful money
men (rarely women!) would suggest that
government s and society would take an interest
in their activities. Aside from occasional Con-
gressional forays since the mid 1970s, this has
hardly been the case. The activities of accoun-
tants in the U.K. and U.S.A. have b een subjec t to
self regulation rather more than any form of di-
rect public control. Although sociologists have
cond uct ed man y studies of lawyers and doctors,
there has been comparati vely little attention on
accountants except for one or two notable ex-
ceptions (Montagna, 1974; Johnson, 1972).
Within the mainstream academic accounting
community, the re has been a tendenc y to ques-
tion t he significance of accounting practices and
accountants, particularly in the conte xt of per-fect markets. Apparently there is a limited, risk
sharing, role for public financial information in a
competitive, general equilibrium context
(Ohls on & Buckman, 1980). The evidence from
studies of the informational efficiency of stock
markets suggests that published accounting in-
formation is somewhat r edundant in the cont ext
of multiple and more timely information sources
(Beaver, 1981 ). Even the in vestment in financial
controls and sophisticated investment appraisal
techniques do not seem to be strongly as-
sociated with firm performance (Klammer,
1973; Haka e t a l . , 1985).
It is perhaps no t surprising then that ac count-
ing information does not seem to be wide ly used
in organisations (Dew and Gee, 1975; Berry e t
a l . , 1985; Preston, 1986) or well understood
(Lee & Tweedie, 1977).
The argument of many of the papers in this
issue is that such statements are largely irrelev-
ant. Accounting may be significant in organisa-
tions and s ociety even if it is not extensively
used or understood. Armstrong offers an expla-nation of the comparative pre-eminence of ac-
countants in British management and the use of
financial mod es of contr ol in British companies .
His explanations focus on the particular nature
of the British economy and its historical
emergence. Most crucially, the response of
British firms to control s in warti me and periodic
profit crises was to elevate the significance of
financial calculations and t he ro le of financial in-
stitutions in the reorganisa tion o f British indus-
try. Account ing is significant beca use it helps to
shape t he specific form of the "global functi on of
capital" in the U.K., bot h identi fying the natu re of
probl ems and offering solutions to them. The in-
ference from Armstrong's comparative histori-
cal analysis of German and U.K. acc ount ing is
that there is no inevitability about account ing's
significance in a capitalist economy and of
course there was no i nexorable logic that led to
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CRITICALSTUDIES N ACCOUNTING 409
a c c o u n t in g ' s c o m p a r a t i v e p r e - e m i n e n c e i n th e
U .K . I n s t e a d o f t h e r e b e i n g a n y s y s t e m a t i c
s t r a te g y b y a c c o u n t a n t s t o a c h i e v e p r o m i n e n c e ,
t h e s i g n i f ic a n c e o f a c c o u n t i n g i n t h e U .F L i s th e
o u t c o m e o f s e v er a l, m o r e o r l e s s i n d e p e n d e n t ,
p r o c e s s e s . T h e s e a r o s e f i r s t f r o m t h e r e l a t i v e l yi n d i r e c t f o r m o f w a r t i m e s t a te i n t e r v e n t i o n
w h i c h l e a d t o i n te r n a l c o s t s y s te m s , s e c o n d f r o m
t h e s i g n i f ic a n c e o f th e B r i ti s h f in a n c i a l s y s t e m
a n d c a p i t a l m a r k e t s a n d t h e r i s e o f a u d i ti n g , a n d
t h i r d l y f r o m r o l e o f f in a n c i a l i n s t i tu t i o n s i n
r a t i o n a l i s i n g a n d r e - o r g a n i s i n g B r i t i s h i n d u s t r y
t h r o u g h l i q u id a t io n s , m e r g e r a c t i v i ty a n d t h e a s -
s o c i a t e d n e e d f o r fi n a n c ia l d i r e c t o r s t o l ia is e
w i t h t h e C i ty .
A r m s t r o n g ' s a n a ly s i s i s a b r o a d o n e , u s i n g s e c -
o n d a r y h i s t o r i c a l s o u r c e s t o i l l u s t r a t e h i s a r g u -
m e n t s a b o u t t h e r o l e o f a c c o u n t i n g i n th e g l o b a l
f u n c t i o n s o f c a p i ta l . A r m s t r o n g c l as s if ie s t h e
e c o n o m i c f u n c t i o n s w i t h i n t h e g l o b a l f u n c t i o n
o f c a p i t a l as t h e e x t r a c t i o n , r e a l is a t i o n a n d a l lo -
c a t i o n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e . I n i d e n t i f y i n g t h e s i g n if i-
c a n c e o f a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s i n t h e U . K. t h e
p a p e r c o n c e n t r a t e s o n t h e e x t e r n a l a s p e c ts o f
t h e a l l o c a t i o n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e , n o t a b l y t h e c r e a -
t io n a n d i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f r u l e s f o r b a n k r u p t c y
a n d a u d i t. H i s a n a l y s is o f t h e r o l e o f a c c o u n t i n g
i n t h e e x t r a c t i o n a n d r e a l i s a t io n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e
is a u g m e n t e d b y t h a t o f H o p p e r , S t o r e y an d
W i l l m o t t .
H o p p e r et al., p r o v i d e a n a c c e s s ib l e a n d c o m -
p r e h e n s i v e r e v i e w a n d c r i t iq u e o f t h e c o n v e n -
t i o n a l , i n t e r p r e t a t i v e a n d l a b o u r p r o c e s s p e r -
s p e c t i v e s o n a c c o u n t i n g . T h e c e n t r a l t h r u s t o f
t h e i r a r g u m e n t c o n c e r n s t h e s i g n if ic a n c e o f a c-
c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s i n th e l a b o u r p r o c e s s , w h i c h
is a n o t h e r w a y o f e x p r e s s i n g t h e p r a c t i c e s a n d
o u t c o m e s t h a t m e d i a t e b e t w e e n t h e g lo b a l f u n c-
t i o n s o f c a p i ta l a n d t h e c o l l e c t i v e l a b o u r , r e f e r-
r e d t o b y A r m s t r o n g . A lt h o u g h B r a v e r m a n ' sa n al y si s o f th e l a b o u r p r o c e s s ( 1 9 7 4 ) h a s in -
f o r m e d n u m b e r o f w r i t in g s o n t h e s i g n if ic a n c e o f
a c c o u n t i n g , H o p p e r et al. e m p h a s i s e o n e r e l a -
t iv e l y n e g l e c t e d a s p e c t o f hi s w o r k . T h e y s t r e s s
t h e l a b o u r p r o c e s s i n m a n a g e m e n t a n d t h e r is e
o f p a p e r ( a c c o u n t i n g ) e m p i r e s w h i c h r e p li c at e
t h e p r o c e s s e s o f p r o d u c t i o n a n d m a k e p o s s i b le
t h e c o n t r o l o f p r o d u c t i o n b y t h e o ff ic e . A l t h o u g h
d o u b t i n g i ts s o c i a l v a l u e , th i s a n a l y s is p r o v i d e s
a n e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h e p e r v a s i v e n e s s o f a c c o u n t -
i n g a n d f i n a n c e a s t h e " b r a i n " o f l a r g e o r g a n i s a-
t io n s a n d t h e c r i t i c a l n a t u r e o f t h e a s c r i p t i o n o f
h o n e s t y t h a t m a n a g e m e n t a c c o u n t a n t s o b t a i n
f r o m t h e i r a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h a u d i ti n g . T h i s i n tu r nh a s i m p l ic a t io n s f o r th e v i e w a n d a c c e p t a n c e o f
a c c o u n t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a s o b j e c t i v e , tr u s t w o r -
t h y a n d v a l u e f r e e . T h i s i m p l i c a t i o n i s f u r t h e r
e x p l o r e d b y K n i g h t s & C o l l in s o n i n t h e i r p a p e r.
T h e p a p e r s b y A r m s t ro n g , H o p p e r et aL and
K n i g h t s & C o l li n s o n a ll s h a r e a c o m m i t m e n t t o
u n d e r s t a n d i n g a c c o u n t i n g i n a h i s t o r i c a l a n d c u l -
t u r a l c o n t e x t . T h e l a t t e r t w o p a p e r s m o r e
e x p l ic i tl y e m b r a c e a v i e w o f t h e m e d i a t i o n o f t h e
c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n c a p i t a l a n d l a b o u r a s a s o c i a l
p r o c e s s . T h e y d e v e l o p t h e l a b o u r p r o c e s s p e r -
s p e c t i v e o f B r a v e r m a n ( 1 9 7 4 ) b y s t re s s i n g t h e
r o l e o f s u b j e c t s i n d i al e c t ic a l p r o c e s s e s o f c o n -
t r o l in v o l v i n g p e o p l e w h o b o t h r e si s t a n d r e p r o -
d u c e s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s i n s i d e a n d o u t s i d e t h e o r -
g a n i s a t i o n . T h i s i s a c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e l a b o u r
p r o c e s s l i t e r a tu r e i ts e lf , i n d i c a t i n g h o w a c c o u n t -
i ng p l a y s a r o l e i n t h e w a y s i n w h i c h m a n a g e r s
a n d o t h e r e m p l o y e e s i n t er p re t , a c c o m m o d a t e
a n d r e s i s t t h e s o - c a l l e d " l o g i c o f c a p i t a l is m " . T h i s
t h e m e o f t h e d i a l e ct ic o f c o n t r o l i s d e v e l o p e d b y
K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n i n a n e m p i r i c a l c o n t e x t .
K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n e x a m i n e m a n a g e r i a l d i s -c i p li n e t h r o u g h a d e ta i l ed c a s e s tu d y o f t w o m a n -
a g e r i a l a t t e m p t s t o c o n t r o l w o r k e r s i n a t r u c k a s -
s e m b l y p la n t . T h e y c o n t r a s t t h e r e s i s t a n c e t o
m a n a g e r i a l a t t e m p t s t o c o n t r o l t h e s h o p f l o o r
t h r o u g h t h e u s e o f h u m a n r e la t io n s t e c h n i q u e s
( c o m p a n y m a g a z i n e s a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s
s t r e s s i n g a m a n a g e r i a l c u l t u r e o f o p e n n e s s ,
c o o p e r a t i o n a n d c o m m o n a l i t y o f p u r p o s e ) w i th
t h e f a ta l is t ic a c c e p t a n c e b y t h e s e s a m e w o r k e r s
o f a c c o u n t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n w h i c h w a s l ik e w i s e
u s e d t o c o n t r o l t h e m , t h i s t im e i n t e r m s o f r e -d u n d a n c i e s a n d c l o s u r e o f a d i v is i o n . T h e s i g n if i-
c a n c e o f a cc o u n t i n g i n f o r m a ti o n ( c o m p a r e d t o
o t h e r f o r m s o f m a n a g e r i a l d i s c ip l i n a r y t e c h -
n i q u e s ) i s t h a t i t is n o t r e s i s t e d . T h i s is n o t j u s t
b e c a u s e o f a l ac k o f k n o w l e d g e a n d e x p e r t i s e
n e c e s s a r y f o r " r a t i o n a l " r e s i s t a n c e b u t a l s o b e -
c a u s e o f t h e a b i l i t y o f f i n a n c i a l c a l c u l a t i o n s t o
d r a w o n , a n d i n d e e d r e p r o d u c e , t h e w o r k e r s
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410 DAVID . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER
own definition of their subjectivity. In particu-
lar, accountin g figures wer e c ompatibl e with the
values of the men work ing on the pro ductio n
line. Like their ow n self-image of men, the work-
ers saw the figures as straight (ob jective), practi-
cai (relating to reality) and dominant (causingthings to happen). This provo cativ e view of the
pow er of finance and acc ounti ng figures, as
owing s ome of their significance to their mas-
culine qualities and their ability to individuaiise
workers, offers psychologica l and social insights
into the reasons for the increasing pervasiveness
of, and acquiescence to, financial calculations in
moder n society.
As the title o f their paper indicates, Lehman &
Tinker direct ly address the significance of ac-
counting in modern society. They make the
analysis of accou ntin g discourses, also discussed
in Knights & Collinson, central in their assess-
ment of accounting. Through a form of literary
discourse which assumes that accounting writ-
ings are a form o f symbolization and interpreta-
tion of the social world, th ey examine three
accou ntin g and business journals in terms of the
way they strive to represen t and recreate the so-
cial world. Conventional understandings of the
(in)significance of accounting, as an informa-
tional input into decisions about, for example,
resou rce allocation, are augment ed by seeing ac-count ing as a social symbolic form, as a means o f
mobilizing interests. Accounting's "real" signifi-
cance relates to what it denies or prevents fro m
emerging as well as its ability to orientate mes-
sages to specific constituencies and issues and to
use and reproduce general themes that are em-
bedd ed in our cultural practices and discourses.
In particular, Lehman & Tinker ex plore in their
empirical work how accounting discourses re-
late to ch anging conceptualisations of the role of
the State and accounting practice themselves.
Specifically, they argue that their research can
be interpretated as showing how themes in the
journals reflect, legitimate and help to consti-
tute, the change from a consensuai to an au-
thoritar ian-popul arist state in the U.S. aroun d
the early part of the 1970s, and which em-
phasises accounti ng's role as an indepen dent en-
suring dedicated to the public interest.
The Lehman & Tinker paper utilises the ideas
of Gramsci on forms of hegemon y and the nature
of the mod ern state as well as the d evelop ments
of these ideas by Hail and his colleagues in orde r
to analyse accounting as a language. Laughlin is
similarly concerned with accounting as a lan-guage and to identify accounting 's social origins.
However Laughlin utilises, and argues for, the
critical theory of Habermas to under stand ac-
counting systems as language systems. The ap-
proac hes of Gramsci and Habermas are develop-
ments o f Marxian t hought but although they
bot h address the issue of ho w societies do and
should change, they do so with quite different
emphases. Habermas places greater emphasis in
meaning and change being the ou tcom e of self
conscio us action by people. He focusses particu-
larly on the ro le of language (which, for
Laughlin, includes a ccou nti ng) in shifting the ba-
lance from technical to social solutions to prob-
lems. Laughlin outlines what he sees as the de-
tailed stages of the requ ired language processes,
to redress the p owe r of technical systems (in-
cluding accounting systems) over the social
world (the meaning and values of people).
There seems muc h of interest to systems analysis
and design in the appro ach outlin ed by Laughlin
and it will be instructive to see how far the pro-
cesses of enlightenment, outlined in the paper,can be used in practice.
Thompson takes a position which is some-
what different from the othe r papers in this spe-
ciai issue in respect to the significance of ac-
counting. Like all the ot her contributions, he lo-
cates accou nting practices in a wider social con-
text but does not then identify the mechanisms
linking this cont ext t o accounting. He treats the
autono my of accounting practices as much more
extensive than, for example, Armstrong or
Lehman & Tinker. He emphasises a number of
"conditions of existence and possibility" which
makes particular types of accounting calculation
possible. Thomp son examines inflation account-
ing in the U.IC, identifyi ng the c ond itio ns of exis-
tence of its development in terms of a conce rn
with inflation, the existence of an organised pro-
fession develo ping standardised codes of prac-
tice, changing knowledge and conceptions of
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CRITICAL STUDIES IN ACCOUN TING 411
accou ntin g theory; pressure fr om financial man-
agement and investment associated with mer ger
activity and a profit slump an d tax crisis in man-
ufacturing industry. Accounting calculations
exist at an intersection of prod ucti ve and finan-
cial activity in the U.K.; but what is important inthis statement is the ma nner by which this inter-
face and the role of accounting is concep-
tualised. In terms of a discussion abou t the sig-
nificance of accounting, Thompson' s section on
acco unti ng and the issue o f signification is par-
ticularly crucial.
For Thompso n, alth ough mo ne y fails to repre-
sent the "real" (this is particularly clear in in-
flationary condit ions ) it always signs or signifies
some c onc ept ion o f value, wealth, etc. His
theory of calculation focusses on ho w and what
is signed in accounti ng. But signification is more
than communication. Signs are always ambigu-
ous and unstable -- they have to be interpreted
and thus sho w acco unti ng as a set of linked prac-
tices for the generation of signifiers, which are
themselves inserted into the gaze or scrutiny of
specific agents for their own pu rpose s and mean-
ings. For Thompson then, the significance of
accounting calculations is depen dent on the par-
ticular and unstable purposes t o whi ch these cal-
culations are put. The conce ption of accounting
as repres enting somet hing else is reje cted and inits place is offered a view of accounting as as-
sociated with a series of both socially and inter-
nally contingent practices and discourses. To
understand the significance and develo pment o f
accounting it is necessary to examine its social
context, but this context has to be studied in
terms o f particular c onc ern s and variable pur-
poses, not a reading o f pre-given social func-
tions.
A con cer n to assess the significance of ac-
counting b oth as a set of practices and everyd ayand theoretical discourses is central to critical
studies in accounting. The papers in this issue
offer different ways of addressing this issue but
all share a commitment to analysing accounting
in its social context , as a part o f a set of othe r so-
cial eco nom ic and political institutions and prac-
tices. As the papers illustrate, these analyses are
often historical and seek to unders tand ac count-
ing as a set of cultural as well as econ omi c prac-
tices. The significance of acco untin g varies with
specific historic and institutional condit ions but
many of the papers point to the crucial involve-
ment of the state and the role of accounting in
conflict betw een different groups in society. Be-cause of the centrality of the conce rn with ac-
counti ng's role in conflict it is also not surprising
that a secon d the me of at least some of the pap-
ers in this issue concer ns the nature of interests.
ACCOUNT ING AND INTERESTS
Critical studies in accounting are frequently
conc erne d to explicate a theory of interests in
understanding accoun ting practice and theory.
In this collection of articles theories of interest
are explicitly consi dere d by Armstrong, Hopper
e t a i. , L e h m a n & Tinker and Thompson. Part of
this concern reflects what might be seen as an
unproblematic conc ept of interests that is
utilised in conventional attempts to understand
the significance, nature and purpo ses of ac-
counting.
Agency theory, for example, is predicated on
the analysis of inter-personal behaviou r whic h is
motivat ed by the different interests of principals
and agents. There m ay be shareh olders and man-
agers, shareholders and bondholders, superiorand subordinate managers in an organisational
hierar chy or informati on providers and users. In
each case, an actor is motivated by interests
which may be in conflict with the interests of
anoth er actor. Some versions of this theor y seek
to explain observed choices -- about corporate
reporting policy in respect to alternative
accounting measures, lobbying behaviour, di-
vidends, etc. -- in terms of the interests served
(Watts & Zimmerman, 1986). Other versions of
agency theory focus on optimal choice be-
haviour -- including choices about managerial
incentive schemes, reporting systems and or-
ganisational governance structures (Baiman,
1982). In either ver sion "interests" are assumed
to motivate choice behaviou r and are treated as
exog eno us (and pr ior) to the analysis of these
choices
From a somew hat different perspective, finan-
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412 DAVID . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER
cial accounting research is frequently con-
cerned with developing accountingdisclosures
and measures which are intended to serve
specified interests. The FASB's conceptual
framework project revolves around the notion
of the interests o f informe d investors. In thesame tradition research has been con duct ed on
the accounting information which wo uld be in
the interests of i n t e r a l i a , employees, bank loan
officers, creditors and managers. The more radi-
cal research on accounting shares one charac-
teristic with these m ore convent ional traditions.
Radical accounti ng often identifies the interests
of capitalists and workers and from this prior
conceptualisati on of interests (for example, that
capitalist interests concern capital accumula-
tion), it either exposes how these interests are
served or seeks to create new accountings that
serve the interests of the workers (perhaps in
the for m of social or public interest acco unting).
Armstrong and Laughlin adopt sophisticated
versions o f this vi ew o f interests as affecting the
nature or potential of accounting. For
Armstrong, the particular features of U.K.
capitalism in the twentieth century explain the
pre-eminences of accountants in British indus-
try. The interests of capital in co-ordinatin g the
extraction, realisation and allocation of surplus
value explains the significance of accou nting inthe U.I~ For Armstrong these interests are not
crud e functionalist imperatives but nevertheless
the logic of the system m the interest in capital
accumulation -- provides the motivation for the
specific role of accounting in the society he
examines. Laughlin's conce pti on of interests is
implicit in the motivations of actors in the par-
ticular dev elopment process of critical theory
which he espouses. Interests again seem to be
pre-given, but for Laughlin these are based on
the individual and his or her self consciou sness
and are not clearly articulated with wider social
relations. Accoun ting designs are to be the logi-
cal consequence of a developmental process
whe re interests motivate the discourse of the
parties involved.
The papers by Hopper e t a l . , Knights & Collin-
son and Lehman & Tinker ext end these views by
addressing the constitution and reproductio n of
interests. In all three papers, interests are pro-
duced, not pre-given, and a concern is to show
how the contex t and the person are intertwined
in the process of constructing and reproducing
the subject's interests. Knights & CoUinson
focus on resistance and argue that outc omes arenot simply a resolution of manager's interests
and inventions but are a complex and under-
deter mined result of their interplay. Further,
they argue that the constructi on of workers' in-
terests is to a considerable ex tent the pro duc t of
managerial strategies o f discipline and control.
The cycle of discipline and co ntro l both pro-
duces and confirms itsel f-- workers are treated,
and respond, as commodities seeking economic
gain. Hopper e t a l . likewise emphasise con-
tradictory class positions and managerial and
worker resistance in giving shape to organisa-
tional controls. However, th ey lay considerabl y
mor e stress on the limits of resistance and the
existence of structures of domination that are
the me dium and ou tco me of social forces. In the
last instance they acknowledge the existence of
interests as motivating behaviour but that these
interests are constantly being recreated and
modified (within limits set by the wider total-
ity).
This is a position similar to that adopted by
Lehman & Tinker. The conceptuali sation o f in-terests and the role of accounting d i s c o u r s e s i n
the constitution o f i n t e r e s t s is a central th eme of
their paper. Th ey directly address the view of ac-
count ing as "infused with interests", asking how
interests should be theorised and why account-
ing is central in mobilising interests. They offer
one w ay of addressing these questions by treat-
ing accounting as a social symbolic form. Con-
flict and harmony of interest may occur simul-
taneously in a relationship and may operate at
the level of classes, culture and th e individual.
Utilising this multi-level analysis, Lehman &
Tinker theorise changes in the balance between
interests and how i n t e r e s t s a r e mobilised at
specific historic junctures. Thus, although they
are concerned to trace the way in which
accounting journals, like other forms of media,
help to constitute interests (and are themselves
constituted by changing cultural d i s c o u r s e s ) ,
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CRITICALSTUDIES N ACCOUNTING 413
L e h m a n & T i n k e r c o n c e i v e o f t h e s e i n t e r e s t s a s
f o r m i n g a t o t a l i t y - - r e p r o d u c i n g c o n d i t i o n s c o n -
d u c i v e t o c a p i t a l a c c u m u l a t i o n . I n t h is r e s p e c t
t h e y h a v e m o r e i n c o m m o n w i t h H o p p e r et aL
t h a n w i t h K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n an d T h o m p s o n .
T h o m p s o n , i n h i s c o n c e r n t o d e v e l o p a th e o r yo f i n t e r e s t s , s e e k s t o d i s t i n g u i s h i t f r o m t h e l i t e r -
a t u r e o n t h e p o l i t i c a l e c o n o m y o f a c c o u n t i n g
a n d p r e s u m a b l y t h e p e r s p e c t i v e s i n th e o t h e r
c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h i s s p e c i a l is su e . H is t h e o r y o f
c a l c u l a t i o n is , i n e s s e n c e , a m o r e u n c o m p r o m i s -
i n g s t a t e m e n t a b o u t i n t e r e s t s b e i n g p r o d u c e d
a n d r e p r o d u c e d t h r o u g h p r a c t i c e s , c a l c u l a t i o n s
a n d d i s c o u r se s . I n t e r e s t s a r e n o t p r e d e t e r m i n e d
b y t h e e c o n o m i c o r c u l t u ra l d o m a i n , b u t a r e
d e t e r m i n e d w i t h i n a n d b y p r a c t i c e s a n d a r e c o n -
s e q u e n t l y h e t e r o g e n e o u s . I t i s t h i s h e t e r o -
g e n e i t y o f i n t e r e s t s a n d h i s u n w i l l i n g n e s s t o u s e
t h e n o t i o n o f a t o t a li t y , t o g e t h e r w i t h h i s a r g u -
m e n t t h a t e v e n ts m a y b e u n d e r d e t e r m i n e d w i t h
r e s p e c t t o i n te r e s t s , t h a t l e a d s T h o m p s o n t o
s t r e s s t h e s p e c i f i t y o f e v e n t s a n d e f f e c t s. F o r
T h o m p s o n i t i s o n l y b y s t u d y i n g th e c o n d i t i o n s
a n d c o n s t r a i n t s o f s p e c i f i c d e b a t e s a n d e v e n t s
t h a t i t is p o s s i b l e t o i d e n t i f y t h e d e t e r m i n a n t s o f
a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s . A s t u d y o f t h e d e v e l o p -
m e n t o f a n y a c c o u n t i n g c a l c u l a t i o n i n v o lv e s a
w o r k i n g t h r o u g h o f t h e v a r i o u s a n d m u l t i p l e
f o r c e s th a t s u r r o u n d t h o s e c a l c u l a t i o n s a n d s u c h
a s t u d y is n o t h e l p e d b y r e f e r e n c e t o i n t e re s t s o r
t o a t o t a l it y . In l e s s s o p h i s t i c a t e d a n a l y s e s t h a n
t h a t o f f e re d b y T h o m p s o n , t h e r e i s a d a n g e r i n
t h i s a p p r o a c h d e v e l o p i n g i n t o c r u d e i n d u c -
t iv i s m , b u t T h o m p s o n p r e s e n t s a d e v a s t a t in g
c r i t i q u e o f t h e a l t e r n a t i v e d a n g e r , w h i c h , u n f o r -
t u n a t e ly , i s q u i t e p r e v a l e n t i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e , o f
t h e c r u d e a s c r i p t i o n o f i n t e r e s t ( w h e t h e r c l a s so r s e l f - i n t e re s t ) t o e x p l a i n a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s .
C O N C L U S I O N
I n t h is i n t r o d u c t o r y e s s ay w e h a v e i d e n t i f ie d
t w o i s su e s w h i c h a r e a d d r e s s e d b y m u c h o f t h e
c r i t ic a l l i t e r a t u r e i n a c c o u n t i n g . O f c o u r s e t h e r e
a r e m a n y o t h e r i s s u e s a d d r e s s e d i n t h e c o n t r i b u -
t i o n s t o t h i s s p e c i a l i s s u e, a n d a s s o c i a t e d p u b l i c a -
t io n s . I n d e e d , w e w o u l d b e a n x i o u s t o a v o i d a n y
i m p r e s s i o n t h a t c r i t i c a l s t u d i e s i n a c c o u n t i n g a r e
a n y t h i n g o t h e r t h a n a c o l l e c t i o n o f d i v e r s e a n d
s t i m u l a t i n g c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h e s t u d y o f a c -
c o u n t i n g i n i ts s o c i a l c o n t e x t . B y d r a w i n g t h e s e
p a p e r s t o g e t h e r , h o w e v e r , w e h a v e r e f l e c t e d o n
t h e i r c o m m o n a l i t i e s r a t h e r t h a n t h e i r d if f er -
e n c e s . T h r o u g h m u l t i p l e id e n t i f i c a t i o n s a n d
r e a d i n g s o f t h e s e p a p e r s w e h o p e a s e ri e s o f
c u m u l a t i v e d e v e l o p m e n t s i n t h e a r e a o f c r i t i c a l
a c c o u n t i n g c a n t a k e p l a c e . I n d e e d , w e l o o k fo r -
w a r d t o c o n t i n u i n g l iv e l y a n d t o l e r a n t d e b a t e ,
n o t l e a s t i n t h e s e c o n d I n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y P e r-
s p e c t i v e s o n A c c o u n t i n g C o n f e r e n c e w h i c h i s t o
b e h e l d i n M a n c h e s t e r i n J u l y 1 9 8 8 .
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