Patricia J. Arnold

Globalization and the state-profession relationship: the case the Bank of Credit and Commerce International

Abstract Globalization of businesses raises major questions about the regulation of corporations, both in the national and international context. The debate is marked by two competing views. The ‘hyperglobalists’ claim that in a globalized world, nation-states cannot take effective actions to regulate multinational businesses, especially those relating to banking and finance. In response, the ‘skeptics’ accept the view that to regulate corporations, the nation-state has always had to restructure itself. However, they challenge the contention that globalization has reduced the power, functions and authority of the state. The paper contributes to the debate through an examination of some of the processes leading to the forced closure (and the aftermath) of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), a bank that operated from 73 countries. It particularly focuses upon the role of the banking regulators and their reliance upon auditing technologies to regulate major banks. The paper sides with the ‘skeptics’ and argues that the nation states, especially major Western states, remain important players in the regulation of global businesses. It concludes that the nation-state’s capacity to regulate global enterprises is compromised by history, domestic concerns and relationships with class and capitalist interests rather than by globalization per se.

The role of accounting in ideological conflict: Lessons from the South African divestment movement

Abstract Social critiques of accounting have challenged the conventional view of corporate social disclosure as a neutral, technical tool for enhancing corporate social responsibility, and stressed the ideological role accounting plays in legitimating corporate activities. This paper extends the literature on the role of accounting in ideological conflict by examining the ideological role accounting and social disclosure played in the South African divestment debates in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. The history of the Sullivan Principles and institutional divestment from South Africa provides an empirical context for examining both the potential and limits of accountings capacity to serve the interests of subordinate groups and social movements.

Accounting as discursive construction: The relationship between statement of financial accounting standards no. 106 and the dismantling of retiree health benefits

Abstract This study explores reductions in benefits that occurred coincident with the passage of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 106 requiring companies to accrue a liability for unfunded retiree health benefits. Congressional hearings and the business press reveal two competing discursive constructions of the retiree health benefits crisis. The first portrayed them as moral obligations that firms were attempting to avoid, the second as unexpected liabilities threatening corporations. Drawing on the work of Skocpol (1992), Weber (1949, 1978) and Burawoy (1983, 1985), we argue that characterizing these benefits primarily as accounting liabilities reinforced the second construction, facilitating corporate efforts to roll back retiree health coverage.

Accounting and the state: Consequences of merger and acquisition accounting in the U.S. hospital industry☆

Abstract The interaction between government, industry and accounting policy is examined in a study of the consequences of merger and acquisition accounting in the U.S. hospital industry. The research combines statistical and historical methodologies to analyse both the political antecedents, and the distributional and organizational consequences of accounting policies adopted by the U.S. Medicare health insurance program. Implication of the study for understanding the role of accounting at the meso-level of state-industry relations are discussed.

The Contemporary Discourse on Health Care Cost: Conflicting Meanings and Meaningful Conflicts

Discussion of health care costs has expanded beyond the technical domains of accountancy and entered the realms of public discourse. Analyses this discourse through an examination of all the stories published in The New York Times between 1 April 1992 and 1 May 1993 which contained the phrase “health care costs”. Describes the current discourse and examines how antagonostic social interests strive to inscribe the concept of health care cost with conflicting meanings and ideological accents.

Recounting a difficult past: a South African accounting firm's “experiences in transformation”

This article examines the role of oral history in the social construction of collective memory and forgetting. The article presents a case study of a South African public accounting firms attempt to document the history of race relations within the firm through the publication of a collection of oral histories. The research draws from the sociology of memory and recent scholarship on individual and collective memory in South Africa to analyze the firms account of its experiences in making the transition from Apartheid to a multiracial democracy. The analysis finds that the firms portrayal of its history reflects a narrative of reconciliation and redemption that minimizes the deep social and economic divisions that characterize South Africas past, their relevance to accounting history, and the continuing salience of race to employment in public accounting.

Global trade and the future of national health care reform

Abstract As a result of economic globalization, health care reform is no longer strictly a matter of domestic health policy and politics. This paper argues that international trade agreements impose institutional constraints on governments’ abilities to implement health care reform, and, if left unchallenged, could frustrate social reforms. The thesis is developed through three case studies that examine the implications of various trade agreements for health care reform in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The findings are discussed in the context of theoretical debates concerning the impact of globalization on the autonomy of nation states and the relevance of national politics.

The Economic Consequences of Regulatory Accounting in the Nuclear Power Industry: Market Reaction to Plant Abandonments

Between 1972 and 1990, US electric utility companies cancelled orders for 117 nuclear power plants (NEI, 1996, pp. 1-6). The regulatory accounting methods adopted by utility rate setting commissions determined whether utilities could recover the losses on cancelled plants through higher rates. In effect, the choice of accounting methods determined how billions of dollars invested in cancelled nuclear plants was allocated between utility stockholders, ratepayers, and taxpayers (DOE/EIA, 1983, pp. ix-x). Our paper examines the economic consequences to stockholders of capital project abandonments in a regulated industry. The results show that while regulatory treatment of abandonment costs was generally favorable to investors, the market reacted negatively to nuclear project abandonment announcements indicating that investors did not expect to fully recoup abandonment losses. Two stage regression is used to investigate the determinants of the markets reaction to project cancellations.