Christine Cooper

The Non and Nom of Accounting for (M)other Nature

Uses the work of various women writers but most importantly the writing of Helene Cixous, to question accounting′s role in society. Contends that accounting is masculine in the sense that it embraces all of the Western cultural male attributes. Given the masculine nature of accounting, considers recent calls for accountants to become involved in accounting for the environment. Concludes that to try to account for environmental issues would be more damaging to the environment than the present situation.

From Taylorism to Ms Taylor: the transformation of the accounting craft

Abstract The history of professionally qualified accountants and their regulatory processes command considerable attention in the academic accounting literature. In contrast, “non-qualified”, clerical employees have been virtually excluded from serious accounting research. This paper aims to overcome this serious deficiency in the academic literature. The framework used in the paper to analyse the work practices of accounting clerks draws strongly on the theoretical foundations of Marx and subsequent development by Braverman. We will show that the majority of work experience in the accounting industry is one of deskilling according to Tayloristic “Scientific Management” principles.

Capitalism, states and ac-counting

This paper is concerned with accountings relationship to the state and to capitalism. It argues from a theoretical and historical perspective that accounting has been a central part of capitalisms recent restructuring which has involved the state. Using contemporary theories of society the paper views the state, capital and accounting from a holistic perspective seeing the social relations between them rather than seeing each as distinct forms.

The State of the Field in UK Management Research: Reflections of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Panel

This paper reviews the state of the field of the sub-disciplines within UK management research, based upon the submissions of 94 UK higher education institutions to the Business and Management Studies Panel in the UKs 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It offers observations on the UK model of the assessment of quality in, and funding of, research conducted in publicly funded higher education institutions.

Accounting for the public interest: public ineffectuals or public intellectuals?

Purpose – To present a case for accounting and finance academics to have a more active social role.Design/methodology/approach – A range of published works by “public intellectuals” on praxis is presented. Each theorist could be considered to be an eminent theoretician in their own right; what marks them out is that they have developed their theories by active engagement.Findings – The economic and political interests of the world in which academics operate are perpetuated by the creation of a breed of intellectuals who encounter significant challenges not only to questioning the status quo but, perhaps more importantly, to venturing outside of the academy. Yet, arguably there has never been a more important time for academics to do just that. Academics are armed with the necessary theoretical and research skills to bring coherence to fledgling movements and to enable them to overcome the barriers created by the myths perpetuated to hamper social protest.Originality/value – This paper offers practical and...

Vulgate accountability: insights from the field of football

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the use of the term accountability in the twenty-first century and its role in “remaking the world in favour of the most powerful” using the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Lacan. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines the notion of accountability by analyzing a case study of the hostile takeover of Manchester United Football Club by the Glazer family. The field of football presents an interesting arena in which to study accountability because of its extremely interested and active fans who search for information on every aspect of their clubs. Lacanian theory is drawn upon to add to understanding of the psychopathology which the demands for accountability and transparency place on individuals. Bourdieus work on illusio is drawn upon to understand the motivations of the field of football. Findings - The paper finds that calls to “hold the most powerful to account” in practice lack political force. Thus the case study demonstrates the common (mis)recognition of the term of accountability. The ability to correct the abuses of the most powerful requires power. Originality/value - The conflation of Bourdieu and Lacan adds to understanding of accountability as an empty cipher with performative power.

From Women's Liberation to Feminism: Reflections in Accounting Academia

This paper argues that women from different economic, social and geographical background have to confront a myriad of problems. For the majority of women these problems are class based. While it is undeniably the case that the womens movement has made significant gains, they have largely favoured middle and upper class white women. In this sense womens liberation, as a liberation movement has been largely incorporated within society and the state. Much contemporary feminism has taken up residence in universities and is concerned with theories rather than issues. Despite the incorporation of “feminism” into the status quo, there has been a backlash against women and feminism in the form of neo-Darwinist Evolutionary Psychology. This paper considers some of the debates surrounding Evolutionary Psychology and how they apply to mainstream accounting. The paper also considers contemporary gender writing in accounting relating it back to the stand taken in the paper that bourgeois feminism has made the best recent political, economic and social gains. These might turn out to be at the expense of the majority of women.

Reading accounting writing

Accounting texts are generally taken as unproblematically linked to the intentions of their authors, whether they be the writers of articles and papers or the producers of financial statements themselves. This paper argues against the logocentric notion of an intentional unitary author and in doing so grants the reader the freedom to actively read a text. The post-structuralist insights of Roland Barthes are used to show the workings of logocentrism and how the text can be disrupted by the reader. The disruption is exemplified in the paper through the undertaking of a detailed deconstruction of a magazine article on an accounting subject.

Independently verified reductionism: Prison privatization in Scotland

The Scottish Parliament recently considered proposals, which, if implemented, would lead to a considerable expansion of prison privatization. Both the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Executive used what they claimed to be an independently verified cost saving of £700 million as the major justification for these proposals. The way this figure was constructed and used provides an example of the increasing tendency on the part of government to quantify what cannot be quantified, to ‘make the invisible visible’. This article uses several methods to interrogate this figure of £700 million, particularly the role played by ‘net present value’ in its construction. Its fuller significance emerges from an understanding of the contexts of the Private Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnership, the experience of prison privatization and the foreclosure of alternatives to privatization. This article is based upon an analysis of government documentation, interview evidence with key players and testimony given by them to a cross-party committee charged with investigating these proposals.

'It was absolute hell': inside the private prison

As part of a broader current of critique of the economic and political dynamics of prison privatisation — a critique that initially emanated from the USA — this paper focuses on Scotland and on research carried out at its then only private penal institution, HMP Kilmarnock. The authors dismantle the governments case for extending prison privatisation by drilling deep into the experience of Kilmarnock and demonstrating the deleterious effects of marketisation for prison officers and prisoners alike. Degraded pay and conditions and systemic understaffing corroded morale, exposed staff and inmates to risk, and contributed to massive officer turnover. Compelling evidence comes from sources ordinarily unavailable to critical researchers, such as internal company and government documentation.