Steve Evans

Constructing accounting in the mirror of popular music

Purpose - This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of “the accountant” and the world of “art for arts sake”. Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles. Findings - Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the “accountant villain”, the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the “art” and the “money”, the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented). Research limitations/implications - The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances. Originality/value - This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation

Accounting: An Un-Australian Activity?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand if accounting is an un-Australian activity, contrasting the notion of the bush and bushman present in popular Australian poetry and cultural myth with the notion expressed by Maltby of the link between the soul of the middle class and the practice of bookkeeping. The paper aims to explore the notion of a tension between what might be seen as indigenous values and the values of Western capitalism. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents an analysis of Australian poetry to identify in this culturally significant media how the city and the technologies of accounting are negatively contrasted with the bush and the bushman. Since many Australians migrated from European countries, we might expect bookkeeping to claim a foundational place in the Australian soul. Findings - This literature shows bush dwellers as being exploited by those from the city, and city professionals such as the accountant and the lawyer as having lost their sense of self and soul. The sense of “other” reflected by the concept of the bush in Australian literature represents a tension between a structured and ordered European sense of self expressed by Maltby and an archetypical sense of self implied by the character of the bushman and connected to the Australian landscape, with its inherent but little acknowledged debt to the Aboriginal. In this landscape the absence of both accounting and the associated rhetoric of economic rationality allow other forms of rationality to emerge. Originality/value - This is the first time that poetry has been examined in relation to accounting. It shows a deep insight into the place of archetype of the accountant in Australian cultural identity. In addition it argues that responses to accounting can reflect underlying rhetorics of rationality.

AAAJ L & I 31.4 Editorial

Purpose Editorial Design/methodology/approach Zen Buddhism Findings Zen Buddhism, is often about striking a balance between indulging oneself and subduing personal desire Research limitations/implications Practical implications Originality/value This work is unique in its viewpoint.

Literature and insights Editorial

Terah Brown, executive director of the Association of College and University Auditors, representing the internal audit function at 500 colleges and universities, was not aware of any university report or statement indicating that thorough audits of the admissions function are typical or have ever occurred According to Brown, “the board sets the path for audit review ” According to this article, they were not [ ]the EU will not let Pakistan planes into member countries for at least six months

Creative accounting: using creative writing to teach accounting principles

ABSTRACT In this paper, I focus on the intersection of accounting and, to borrow a much-abused term, a creative approach to that discipline. Here it is applied mostly through the use of creative writing as a means of teaching and learning. Co-authoring Balancing Act, a text for teaching MBA students key accounting principles through creative writing, is a key result of my years writing the ‘Literature & Insights’ editorial for the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal (AAAJ), as well as being writer-in-residence and running creative writing workshops at international accounting conferences. Balancing Act and this paper highlight how creative writing and especially story can be used to explore fundamental aspects of accountability, including social or environmental ones. Such writing complements discussion of issues to be encountered by students in their future professional lives. It attempts to bring to life the situations and personal perspectives of a range of different parties affected by selected accounting practices. Story connects us all, and the application of creative writing as a tool to enhance learning in other disciplines is always personally rewarding. It is an effective way to ground the values and practices that those professions publicly espouse, and demonstrably so within management accounting.