Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
doi:10.1006/ cpac.1998.0329
Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Introduction
In todays increasingly global society, an understanding of contemporary
accounting, its social context, its political influence, its economic consequence, and its international diversity cannot be reduced to a simple
Address for Correspondence:
E-mail: tboczko@humber.ac.uk
131
1045-2354/ 00 / 020131+ 23 $35.00 / 0
Q 2000
Academic Press
132
T. Boczko
Classification
133
134
T. Boczko
Classification
135
136
T. Boczko
Classification
137
society, and authenticated by the demands of the institutions and alliances competing for survival within the increasingly international market place. Hence, only by problematising contemporary accounting as
more than merely a symptom of and response to the crisis of capital
accumulation that emerge through tensions with and between hierarchical, market, and commutarian principles of social order, can the
socio-political context of contemporary accounting be revealed (Puxty et
al., 1987). Indeed, only by locating contemporary accounting beyond the
chaotic domain of post (neo) Fordist global capital, beyond its increasing
international mobility, can the influence of capitalisms systemic contradictions on contemporary accounting as a created representation of capitals temporal and spatial displacement (Boczko, 1997) be made visible.
Thus classification studies which fail to accommodate or acknowledge
any notion of the social hybridity and reflexivity advocated by the
increasingly international priorities of global capital15 must be interpreted
with caution for three very important reasons.
First, many of these studies whilst not explicitly, often implicitly support a functionalist and somewhat positivist interpretation of contemporary accounting, rejecting without critical comment, the socio-political
nature of contemporary accounting. Second, many of these studies,
perhaps unsurprisingly, only reinforce extant socio-economic perceptions,
beliefs and structures. These again neglect to consider the powerful
influence and effect of capitals increasingly flexible and fictitious structure on the technology of contemporary accounting. Third, whilst society
and culture may legitimately influence the processes through which the
effects of capital accumulations conflicts and crises are visualised
through contemporary accounting, their influence is increasingly indeterminate and transitory} constrained by the powerful vested interests
that compete in the international capital accumulation process. This is an
important point, and needs emphasising.
Whilst the society or culture specific thesis may be plausible in
some limited context, for example in respect to the development and
adaptation of territorial schemes of regulation, it is unlikely that such a
thesis could be used to formulate rational explanations of international
contemporary accounting diversity. Contemporary accounting has become
increasingly cultivated as a capital specific commodity} as an increasingly accumulation specific commodity authenticated by the fundamentals of capital accumulation. Influenced in some limited context by culturally derived modes of regulation, this influence has become increasingly diluted or negotiated away by the demands of the institutions
and alliances competing for survival within the increasingly international
and fictitious regimes of capital accumulation. The created symbolic
space of contemporary accounting, has thus become primarily seen as a
selected visualisation of the accumulation process, a result of demands
by the dominant and legitimating interests inherent in regimes of capital
accumulation rather than a product of social and cultural idiosyncrasies.
Contemporary accounting may well be influenced by the social, but it
has increasingly become a captured product of capital. Thus the use
138
T. Boczko
of social determinism} of institutional values and arrangements conditioned by the priorities of capital in understanding contemporary accounting diversity must therefore be regarded with cautious suspicion.
Such attempted interpretations are perhaps the anathema of the
economic} a fallacy born out of the idealism of economic liberalism,
and the increasing ontological insecurity16 associated with the increasing
social consequences of the changing character of the priorities of capital
on the global system (see Harvey, 1988; Giddens, 1981).
Classification
139
gain } for new products and markets, new technologies, new spaces and
locations, new processes of organisation and control that has increasingly produced the very crisis of accumulation that capital seeks to
escape. A crisis in its transformative capacity that has increasingly undermined territorial autonomy, and national stability and self sufficiency.
It has expanded international dependency on the erratic flows of
socio-economic resources and information, and encouraged an increasing
preference for accumulation strategies founded on flexible and fictitious
regimes of capital (Harvey, 1990). An institutional restructuring in which
the priorities of capital have become increasingly divorced from, and
less a function of the competitive character of productive capital, and
more a consequence of and thus dependent on the international transferability of fictitious capital (Cerny, 1994). A sustained restructuring
through which not only has much of the geographical and temporal
flexibility of contemporary capital accumulation been achieved, but
through which social commodification, economic subordination and environmental abuse have been, and indeed continue to be rationalised.
Indeed, whatever delimiters 20 (Savage & Warde, 1993) are used to accommodate capitals complex transformation and reorganisation, capitals
eristic desire to import and assimilate increasingly distant realms of
business life into the capital]labour value relation 21 as part of its turbulent search for gain has become increasingly dependent on a structural
flexibility 22 associated with fictitious capital (Harvey, 1990; Hirst &
Thompson, 1996). A structural flexibility increasingly conditioned by the
vast intermediary economy of commercial capital23 , sustained by an
increasingly international service sector, and managed through the increasingly abstract representations of contemporary accounting.
Such an observation however, does not seek to diminish the social
and economic influence of productive capital. It only suggests that the
structural flexibility of capital, its dependency on commercial capital and
its derivative construct} fictitious capital} has become an increasingly
significant component of the global culture of post (neo) Fordist capital.
A reflexive flexibility so deeply entrenched within the turbulent priorities
of post (neo) Fordist global capital that it has become almost totally
reliant on contemporary accounting as a selected symbolic visualisation
of its accumulation process. It is perhaps unsurprising therefore that
from the late 1960s/ early 1970s through to the 1980s and 1990s onwards, the analysis and understanding of contemporary accounting diversity has almost totally been conditioned by the erratic needs and priorities of capital. By the political effects of increasingly dominant
market-based regulatory structures, and the economic consequences of
an ever competitive and ever uncertain international environment 24.
140
T. Boczko
vast majority of contemporary accounting classification studies have historically been influenced by an all too often functionalist analysis dominated by the institutional dogma of economic liberalism. An analysis in
which contemporary accounting has been conceived to be formed primarily through and on behalf of the structural interrelationship of capital
} through the (local) social and institutional values and arrangements
conditioned by demands of the accumulation process.
In this context consider the classification studies of Mueller (1967,
1968), Siedler (1967), Previts (1975) and the AAA (1977), the cluster
studies of Price Waterhouse (1973, 1975/ 6, 1979). The empirical studies
of DaCosta et al. (1978), Frank (1979), Nair and Frank (1980), and Goodrich (1982), and the judgemental studies of Nobes (1983, 1992), Gray
(1988) and Rebmann-Huber (1988). And, the increasingly culturally orientated studies of Jaggi (1975), Watts (1977), Gray (1985, 1988), Harrison
and McKinnon (1986), Salter and Niswander (1988), Belkaoui (1989),
Thomas (1989), Perera and Matthews (1990), Belkaoui and Picur (1991),
Perera (1994) and Gray and Vint (1995). From the traditions of inductive25
analysis with its evaluation and comparison of variations in accounting
techniques to the traditions of deductive26 analysis with its exploration
of derived institutional arrangements, few of these classification studies
have been tempted to stray far from the sanctity of liberal market
orthodoxy. Indeed, few of these classification studies have been tempted
to explore contemporary accounting diversity by reference to issues
other than those directly related to or contained within the increasingly
competitive structures of the priorities of capital. Thus in seeking to
classify contemporary accounting by reference to social and institutional
values and arrangements clearly conditioned by the demands of accumulation, such classification studies have emphasised narrow concerns related to the mechanical, the procedural and the technical aspects of
contemporary accounting. Indeed, in considering contemporary accounting to be no more than a functionalist/ capitalist reflector, such classification studies have failed to acknowledge contemporary accounting as
anything other than a biased created visualisation increasingly sanctioned by the priorities of capital. They have simply extended the understanding of existing institutional or cultural dogma, thus maintaining the
myths of neutrality and representational faithfulness pivotal to the tradition of economic liberalism.
Consider further the following widely cited studies 27 in more detail:
Mueller (1967, 1968), Nobes (1983) and Gray (1988).
Muellers (1967) study identified four distinct patterns of contemporary
accounting development. Guided by a pre-occupation with the functionalist arrangements of economic liberalism, Muellers classification was
clearly dominated by an underlying belief in the sanctity and rationality
of established socio-economic institutions. A belief very much evident
from language used by Mueller to differentiate his judgmental groupings; the macro economic pattern, the micro economic pattern, the independent discipline pattern, and the uniform accounting pattern. This
somewhat market driven theme was developed still further in Muellers
Classification
141
142
T. Boczko
fications, their classifications remain suspect, extremely limited and essentially hypothetical (Radebaugh & Gray, 1997).
By focusing less upon the institutional territoriality of contemporary
nation states and more on the generic socio-cultural values perceived to
be operationalised in accounting systems, Grays (1988) suggested classification study promised to depart from the predominantly institutionalist
nature of previous classification studies. In the event, however, Grays
study simply extended a relationship between the cultural environment
and contemporary accounting earlier hypothesised by Jaggi (1975)29. By
subsuming the cultural contextualisation of contemporary accounting
within a framework predicated on existing institutional relationships and
arrangements, Grays (1988) classification did not depart from the
socio-functional terrain of economic liberalism. Indeed, despite Salter and
Niswanders (1995) contention Grays classification provides a ...workable theory to explain cross national differences in accounting structure
and practice (p. 394), Grays (1988) classification study did little to
illuminate the influence of the competitive and chaotic priorities of
international capital. Whilst it is undoubtedly the case that institutional
and cultural factors do (in a limited context) condition contemporary
accounting (Boczko & Willmott, 1998) a focus upon such a vinculum
merely distracts attention from contemporary accounting as a social
construct increasingly conditioned by the consequences and structures of
capital accumulation. Such institutional arrangements, as products of the
increasingly endemic pressures of capital accumulation merely assist in
camouflaging the realities of capitals power over the social. Indeed such
classification studies not only fail to accommodate the overwhelming
influence of the priorities of capital on contemporary accounting, but
also fail to acknowledge the de-stabilising effects of capital and its
increasing commodification of human society. To locate the true ownership of contemporary accounting requires a wholesale rejection of such
uniformed naivete
and incessant historicity associated with economic
liberalism. It requires recognition of the social totality} recognition of
the inherent structures of power and control. Indeed, it requires a
critical political economy of classification} one that rejects extant arrangements that merely emphasises the political and economic dynamics
of capital. A political economy of classification that not only seeks to be
cognisant of the eristic effects of capital, but also suggestive of how
such classifications of contemporary accounting may be used to counter,
ameliorate, or even defuse some of the negative effects of the priorities
of capital.
Classification
143
structures, and has become increasingly associated with a Marxian analytical approach, or more vaguely a dialectical orientation.
In understanding society to be comprised of complex arrangement of
interrelationships and interdependencies that contains numerous fissures
and distortions, political economy rejects the idealism of systems
thinking, the positivism of contemporary science, and the prioritisation of
either the local or the global. It does not take apparent social structures,
social processes, or accepted social history for granted, but seeks to
understand how ideology and history conceals processes that in one
way or another influence, oppress, and / or control others. In essence
political economy does not search for the causes of observed social
phenomena. Nor does it seek to satisfy itself with the interpretation of
meanings of social action. Political economy is fundamentally critical
because it aims to destroy the illusion of observed reality, and ask
substantive questions approximately extant social processes and structures. It seeks to ask questions not about the nature of issues, but the
circumstances within which such issues arise, and reveal the various
ways in which social processes operate as dominating and controlling
structures in defining, mediating, and legitimating knowledge of social
activities. Indeed, it directs attention towards the fundamental nature of
institutional arrangements and seeks to explore notions of power, class,
and conflict between such social constituencies exposing where appropriate the inherent contradictions and underlying myths of such arrangements.
Political economy is thus an epistemic tradition that not only seeks to
reveal ...the nature of oppressive social structures... (but)... point to
ways in which they can be combated through praxis (Harvey, 1990, p.
32). It seeks to understand the nature of the power relations that
mutually constitutes the production, distribution, and consumption of
resources (Mosco, 1996), and illuminate how specific sets of social
relationships facilitate the control and reproduction of extant structures
of social domination. It is thus an analytical agenda that rejects the
Weberian view that value neutrality can adequately define the relationship between the socially moral and the economically sustainable, and
seeks to understand social change as a process of ...historical interaction... rooted in socio-economic conflict (Clement & Williams, 1989, p.
7). It seeks to ...go beyond... (the)... technical issues of economic
efficiency and engage with basic moral questions of justice, equity, and
public good (Golding & Murdoch, 1991, p. 18), and is thus reflexive,
praxilogical and dynamic, encapsulating three fundamental imperatives31.
First, a normative context that seeks to go beyond conventional value
judgements, and leave behind a neo classical economic agenda that
elevates the efficiency of economic wealth maximisation over and above
the equity of social distribution. Second, a descriptive nature that seeks
to go beyond the ...ideologies of the status quo (Cooper & Sherer,
1984, p. 221), beyond simple rationalisations of the established view,
and understand the consequences of how symbolic representations impact on social action. And, third, a critical intent, that seeks to escape
144
T. Boczko
the dominance of accepted theories and recognise not only the contested nature of such representations but also questions extant concepts
of what is or what is not in the public interest.
In this respect, a purposeful classification of contemporary accounting
} a purposeful political economy of classification cannot be constructed
upon the deductive/ inductive idealism of conventional market based
analysis. It cannot be structured merely on issues concerned with, or
related to the accumulation, regulation, realisation, and distribution of
profit. It requires a more radical context of analysis. It requires:
1. a recognition of the role of the market mechanism in the exploitation of entrenched power relations;
2. an acknowledgement of the vast constituency of conflicting interests that such mechanisms accommodate (Tinker, 1985); and
3. an understanding of how the impact of unequal exchange inherent
within the priorities of capital alienates large factions of the marketplace.
Thus a political economy of classification demands a radical de-emphasising of the market mechanism, and a rejection of contemporary
market arrangements and institutions as the prime units of social analysis. It demands an acknowledgement of the wider social context of
contemporary accounting} to accommodate issues of social alienation
associated with contemporary market relations, and illuminate the underpinning politics of externalised wealth appropriation associated with the
priorities of capital. A repositioning of contemporary accounting from its
narrow (and unfortunately widely accepted) character as a symbolic
space constructed through and enacted by the priorities of capital, to a
more emancipated notion of contemporary accounting. It requires a
denunciation of the traditional orthodoxy associated with the rationality
of conventional accounting or marginalist entity accounting, and an
acceptance of a more critical dialectic of social constituency/ emancipatory
accounting 32 , one that is cognisant of contemporary accountings unity
in difference quality. An acceptance of a dialectic that is accommodating to and sympathetic of the more radical and progressive notions of
contemporary accountings role in social conflict (Lehman, 1992), political
subordination, and economic alienation (Tinker, 1985). A critical dialectic
that is more accommodating of the role of contemporary accounting in
issues related to, or emergent from:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Classification
145
Conclusion
Underpinning the discussion in this paper has been a desire to exercise
the ghost of economic liberalism. A call to reject the structuralism
imposed the complexities of accumulation and the increasing international priorities of capital that have for so long dominated the understanding of diversity and classification of contemporary accounting. Such
classifications have thus far concerned themselves with very narrowly
defined functions and characteristics of contemporary accounting, and
146
T. Boczko
Notes
1. The term contemporary accounting is used here to describe a ...regulated institutional
process, a constructed model... for reporting and communicating the impact of temporal and spatial displacements on economic activity and associated regimes of accumulation (Boczko, 1997, p. 13). The discussion is thus concerned with contemporary
accounting as an external reporting mechanism for profit orientated organisations.
2. The term priorities of capital is used here to emphasise the accumulation driven
structural and institutional arrangements that seek to privilege, prioritise, and indeed
legitimate the accumulation of further capital.
3. The term political economy is used here in the context of ... a study of social
relations, particularly power relations that mutually constitute the production, distribution and consumption of resources (Mosco, 1996, p. 25). It is in essence ... the
study of control and survival in social life (p. 26).
4. The term fictitious capital was historically used to describe capital that did not
productively employ labour, however, in a contemporary context it has become increasingly associated with an escalating use of credit. Indeed as Marx put it fictitious
capital is ... some kind of money bet on production that does not yet exist (Marx
quoted in Harvey, 1990, p. 107). In this context it is perhaps best described as any
financial instrument (including derivative instruments) other than the tangible commodity of money. In a contemporary context such instruments are often associated with
schemes of risk reduction and risk diversification. See also Harvey (1982, Ch. 9).
5. The term mode of regulation refers to ...the institutional ensemble (laws, agreements),
and the complex cultural habits and norms which secure capitalist reproduction. It
consists of formal and informal rules that codify the main social relationships
(Neilsen, 1991, p. 22). It includes, ...institutions and conventions which reproduce a
given accumulation regime through law, state policy, political practice, rules of negotiation and bargaining, culture of consumption and social expectations (Amin, 1994, p.
8).
Classification
147
6. The term regime of accumulation refers to ...set(s) of regularities at the level of the
whole economy enabling a more or less coherent process of capital accumulation
(Neilsen, 1991, p. 22). It includes, ... norms relating to production and management,
forms of exchange, principles of wealth accumulation, and patterns of consumption
and demand (Amin, 1994, p. 8).
7. For a detailed discussion on this issue see Weber (1947, 1961, 1968).
8. A reflective theory of representation (Hall, 1997) understands the use of signs and
symbols to mirror the world that they purport to describe. Or, as suggested by
Boczko and Willmott (1998, p. 1) ...its truth is assumed to be cleansed of power that
might otherwise defile or distort its accounts.
9. The term commodification is used here in a Marxian context to describe the
...way capital(ism) carries out its objective of accumulating capital or realising value
through the transformation of use values into exchange value (Mosco, 1996, p. 140).
In a conventional context this presumes an increasing use of competitive markets, an
important issue in the accumulation process since the most common embodiment of
capitalism is as ...an immense collection of commodities (Marx, 1976, p. 126).
10. The term temporal and spatial displacement is used here in the context of the
increasing international movement of capital as a product of time]space compression
(Harvey, 1990), or time]space distanciation (Giddens, 1991).
11. For a detailed discussion on the marginalist value theory underpinning contemporary
accounting see Tinker (1985, in particular Part 3, Chs 9]12).
12. The term Fordist or Fordism is synonymous with formalised and regulated mass
production, and a Keynesian mode of regulation} an accumulation structure that
emerged under the hegemonic umbrella and leadership of USA after World War II
(Esser & Hirsch, 1994). This Fordist accumulation structure is often associated with
those social theorists who seek to analyse social and structural change as a series of
transitions from one form of social capital to another. (See for example Aglietta, 1979;
Piore & Sabel, 1984; Lipietz, 1985, 1987; Boyer, 1988; Freeman & Perez, 1988; Harvey,
1990; Jessop, 1991.) Such social theorist suggest that the post (neo) Fordist regime
emerged out of a crisis of accumulation that was characterised by a running out of
options to handle the problems of over accumulation. Distinguished by a flexibility in
both productive capital and distributional capital, the post (neo) Fordist structure of
accumulation has become synonymous with a mobility of capital founded on flexible
accumulation (Harvey, 1990), and an increasing structural dependency on international
capital (Smith, 1984). It should, however, be noted that such functionalist explanations
of social change are by no means widely accepted. (For example, see Rusty, 1989;
Clarke, 1990; Bonefeld & Holloway, 1991; Pollert, 1991; Psychopedis, 1991.)
13. The term social and political utility is used here to emphasise that capitalism is
defined by the partially free flow of factors of production and by the selective
interference of the political machinery in the market. For a detailed discussion see
Wallerstein (1991).
14. The term cultivated is used here in preference to the term developed to indicate
the manufactured and ideologically biased nature of contemporary accountings representations.
15. For example see classification studies by Jaggi (1975), Burchell et al. (1985), Harrison
and McKinnon (1986), Cushing (1987), Gray (1988), Belkaoui (1989), Belkaoui and Picur
(1991) and Perera (1994)
16. The term ontological insecurity is used here as a product of created representations
or symbolic spaces were such ... created space replaces effective space as the
overriding principle of organisation (Harvey, 1988, p. 309).
17. In a historical context, the social character of capital accumulation has been interpreted using many alternative socio-economic paradigms. Such interpretations have
included:
v
v
economic liberalism with its concerns with private economic interests and market
freedom (see Smith, 1976; Friedmann, 1977);
economic sociology with its concerns with the relationships between economic and
non economic institutions (see Durkhiem, 1933, 1938; Parsons, 1937, 1951; Parsons et
al., 1953; Weber, 1978; Polanyi, 1944, 1977); and
Marxian political economy with its concerns with the influence of power structures
and social relations in economic life (see Marx, 1967, 1976; Ricardo, 1973).
18. In a Marxian context only productive capital is true capital (Harvey, 1990), and
created by labour in a process of commodity transformation. In this context, money
148
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
v
v
v
v
T. Boczko
capital (and / or finance capital) is seen as the created symbol of productive capital,
and commercial capital is seen as the process through which the accumulation of
productive capital, and increasingly in a industrial context, finance capital is mobilised.
History is littered with fraught attempts at identifying, minimising and were possible
alleviating, if only temporarily, the causes of these crisis of accumulation. Given the
foundations of capital accumulation rest on both the rational ordering of space (Marx,
1967; Harvey, 1990), and time (Marx, 1976; Landes, 1983), it is unsurprising that
attempts to mitigate the impact of these crisis of accumulation continue to be
formulated in the context of Marxs circuits of capital. Such attempts have often
comprised of schemes that not only combine characteristics of spatial and temporal
displacement, but increasingly the fictionalisation of capital.
Such delimiters include neo Marxist Regulation School approach, the neo Smithian
Flexible Specialisation approach, the neo Schumpeterian approach, the disorganised
capital thesis, or, the Flexible Accumulation approach. For the neo Marxist Regulation
schools socio political account and its emphasis on the increasing tension between
social modes of regulation and regimes of accumulation see Aglietta (1979) and
Lipietz (1985, 1987). For the neo Smithian Flexible Specialisation account and its
emphasis on the structural relationship between dominant economic and political
institutions see Sabel (1982), Piore and Sabel (1984), Sabel and Zeitlin (1985) and
Hirst and Zeitlin (1989, 1991). For the neo Schumpeterian approach, based predominantly on the premise of technological determinism reminiscent of Kondratievs long
wave theory, see Freeman et al. (1982), Schumpeter (1987), Dosi et al. (1988), Freeman
and Perez (1988). For the Disorganised Capitalism thesis, and its emphasis on an
increasing disorganisation of regimes of accumulation emerging out of the material
conditions associated with the powerful structure of class politics see Lash and Urry
(1987, 1993) and Offe (1985). For the Flexible Accumulation approach and its increasing emphasis on the impact of time]space compression and the increasing dominance
of fictitious in regimes of accumulation see Harvey (1987, 1990, 1991) and Harvey and
Scott (1988).
I am indebted to the external reviewer for this observation.
Harvey (1990) uses the term flexible accumulation as a descriptor of a post (neo)
Fordist regime of accumulation.
In this context commercial capital is seen as an intermediary economy between
productive capital and money capital (see Thrift, 1987). It provides much of the
rationale and impetus for the reduction of trade barriers, the creation of new markets,
and continued justification for speculation. Some Marxist theorists suggest that the
importance of commercial capital has been reduced as barriers to capital production
are removed by capitals internationalisation. This paper rejects this scenario and
suggests that commercial capital through its symbiotic relationship with the new
international division of labour and the rise of the service class (Sassen, 1991), has
become increasingly important as the global culture of capital has imposed its schema
on the accumulation process.
In an accounting context such economic consequences can be seen to have promoted
increasing discussion on, and concern with issues related to:
the rapid growth and development of complex business combinations and consolidation;
the valuation and recognition of tangible and intangible assets;
the uncertainty of income recognition due to price changes and exchange rate
fluctuations; and
the increasing use of derivative financial instruments.
Classification
29.
30.
31.
32.
149
pioneering nature... (and)... its consideration of the context and development of...
(contemporary)... accounting systems (Nobes, 1992, p. 42).
Many accounting researchers including Burchell et al. (1985) and Harrison and McKinnon (1986) have pursued this suggestion. Indeed, Belkaoui and Picur (1991) contend
that ...the culture of a given country determines the choice of its accounting techniques and the perception of its various accounting phenomena (1991, p. 118).
For an interesting and indeed extensive review of the theories of political economy
see Caporaso and Levine (1992).
For an interesting discussion on a political economy of accounting see Tinker (1980).
For a full and insightful exploration of such imperatives in relation to contemporary
accounting see Cooper and Sherer (1984).
For a detailed discussion of conventional accounting, marginalist entity accounting,
social constituency accounting, and emancipatory accounting see Tinker (1985, Part 4,
Ch 14).
References
AAA, Report of the AAA committee on international accounting and education 1975]1976,
Accounting Review, No. 52 (supplement), 1977, pp. 65]101.
Aglietta, M., A Theory of Capitalist Regulation (London: New Left Books, 1979).
Aitkin, M. J. & Islam, M. A., Dispelling arguments against international accounting standards, in J. Blake and M. Hassan (eds.) Readings in International Accounting (London:
Thompson Business Press, 1996).
Amin, A., Models, fantasies, and phantoms of transition, in A. Amin (ed.) Post Fordism
(London: Blackwell, 1994).
Arrington, E. & Francis, J. R., Accounting as a human practice: the appeal of other
voices, Accounting, Organisations, and Society, Vol. 18, Nos. 2 / 3, 1993, pp. 487]512.
Belkaoui, A., Cultural determinism and professional self regulation in accounting, Research in Accounting Regulation, Vol. 3, 1989, pp. 93]101.
Belkaoui, A. & Picur, R. D., Cultural determinism and the perception of accounting,
International Journal of Accounting, Vol. 26, 1991, pp. 118]130.
Boczko, T., Social Change and the Regulation of Accounting Knowledge. Research Paper 1
(University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, 1997).
Boczko, T. & Willmott, H., Preserving a Myth: a Critique of Classifications of Contemporary
Accounting Systems, Paper Presented at the Workshop on Accounting Regulation, 5]7
March 1998, Sienna, Italy, 1998.
Bonefeld, W., Class theory: Bob Jessops theory of capitalist reproduction, Capital and
Class, Vol. 50, 1993, pp. 22]47.
Bonefeld, W. & Holloway, J., Post Fordism and Social Form (London: MacMillan, 1991).
Boyer, R., Technical change and the theory of regulation, in G. Dosi, G. Freeman, R.
Nelson, G. Silverberg and L. Soete (eds.) Technical Change and Economic Theory (London:
Francis Pinter, 1988)
Bryer, R. A., A political economy of SSAP 22: accounting for goodwill, British Accounting
Review, Vol. 27, 1995, pp. 283]310.
Burchell, S., Clubb, C., Hopwood, A., Hughes, J. & Nahapet, J., The roles of Accounting
in organisations and society, Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1980,
pp. 5]27.
Burchell, S., Clubb, C. & Hopwood, A., Accounting in its social context: towards a history
of added value, Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1985, pp. 381]413.
Cairns, D., The future of Harmonisation; a reply, European Accounting Review, Vol. 6, No.
2, 1997, pp. 348]403.
Caporaso, J. A. & Levine, D. P., Theories of Political Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992).
Castells, M., The Informational City (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989).
Clarke, S., New utopias for old; Fordist dreams and post fordist fantasies, Capital and
Class, Vol. 42, 1990, pp. 131]155.
Cerny, P. G., The dynamics of financial globalisation} technology, market, and policy
response, Political Sciences, Vol. 27, 1994, pp. 319]342.
Clegg, S. & Dunkerley, D., Organization, Class, and Control (London: Routledge, 1980).
Clement, W. & Williams, G., Introduction, in W. Clement and G. Williams (eds.) The New
Canadian Political Economy (Montreal: McGill Queens University Press, 1989).
Colignon, R. & Covaleski, M., A Weberian framework in the study of accounting,
Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1991, pp. 141]157.
150
T. Boczko
Cooper, D., Discussion of towards a political economy of accounting, Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1980, pp. 161]166.
Cooper, C. & Puxty, A., On the proliferation of accounting (his)tories, Critical Perspectives
on Accountancy, Vol. 7, 1996, pp. 285]313.
Cooper, D. J. & Sherer, M. J., The value of corporate accounting reports; arguments for
a political economy of accounting, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Vol. 9, Nos.
3 / 4, 1984, pp. 207]232.
Cushing, B. E., Accounting and Culture (Plenary Session Papers} 1986 AAA), AAA, Sarasota,
Florida, 1987, p. 102.
DaCosta, R. R., Bourgeois, J. C. & Lawson, W. W., A classification of international
accounting practices, Accounting Education and Research, Spring 1978.
DAndrade, R., Cultural meaning systems, in R. Shuseder and F. Levin (eds.) Cultural
Theory; Essays and the Mind, Self, and Emotion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984).
Dillard, J. F., Accounting as a critical social science, Accounting, Auditing, and Accountability Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1991, pp. 8]28.
Dosi, G., Freeman, G., Nelson, R., Silverberg, G. & Soete, L., Technical Change and
Economic Theory (London: Francis Pinter, 1988).
Durkhiem, E., The Division of Labour in Society (Glencoe: Glencoe Free Press, 1933).
Durkhiem, E., The Rules of Sociological Method (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1938).
Eagleton, T., Ideology: An Introduction (London: Verso, 1991).
Esser, J. & Hirsch, J., Post Fordist regional and urban democracy, in A. Amin (ed.) Post
Fordism (London: Blackwell, 1994).
Feige, P., How uniform is financial reporting in Germany} the example of foreign currency translations, European Accounting Review, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1997, pp. 109]122.
Frank, W. C., An empirical analysis of international accounting principles, Journal of
Accounting Research, Autumn 1979, pp. 593]605.
Freeman, G. & Perez, C., Structural crisis of adjustment, business cycles, and investment
behaviour, in G. Dosi, G., Freeman, R. Nelson, G. Silverberg and L. Soete (eds.)
Technical Change and Economic Theory (London: Francis Pinter, 1988).
Freeman, C., Clark, J. & Soete, L., Unemployment and Technological Innovation: A study of
Long Waves in Economic Development (London: Francis Pinter, 1982).
Friedmann, A. L., Identity and Labour: Class Struggle at Work and Monopoly Capitalism
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).
Giddens, A., A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism (London: MacMillan, 1981).
Giddens, A., The Consequences of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991).
Golding, P. & Murdoch, G., Culture, communications and political economy, in J. Curran
and M. Gurvitch (eds.) Mass Media and Society (London: Edward Arnold, 1991).
Goodrich, P. S., A typology of international accounting principles and policies, AUTA
Review, Spring 1982.
Gray, S. J., Cultural Influences and the International Classification of Accounting Systems,
Conference paper, EIASM Amsterdam, June 1985.
Gray, S. J., Towards a theory of cultural influence on the development of accounting
systems internationally, Abacus, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1988, pp. 1]15.
Gray, S. J. & Vint, H. M., The impact of culture on accounting disclosures; some
empirical evidence, Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting, Vol. 2, 1995.
Gray, R., Owen, D. & C. Adams, Accounting and Accountability (London: Prentice Hall,
1996).
Hall, S., Representation, meaning and language, in S. Hall (ed.) Representation: Cultural
Representations and Signifying Practices (London: Sage/ Open University, 1997).
Harrison, G. L. & McKinnon, J., Culture and accounting change, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1986, pp. 233]252.
Harvey, D., The Limits to Capital (Oxford: Blackwell, 1982).
Harvey, D., Flexible accumulation through urbanisation: reflections on post modernism in
the American city, Antipode, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1987, pp. 260]286.
Harvey, D., Social Justice and the City (London: Blackwell, 1988).
Harvey, D., The Condition of Post Modernity (London: Basil Blackwell, 1990).
Harvey, D., Flexibility: threat or opportunity, Socialist Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1991, pp.
65]77.
Harvey, D. & Scott, A. J., The practice of human geography: theory and empirical
specificity in the transition from Fordism to flexible accumulation, in MacMillan (ed.)
Remodelling Geography (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988).
Hines, R. D., Financial accounting: in communicating reality we construct reality, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1988, pp. 256]261.
Classification
151
Hirst, P. & Thompson, G., Globalization in Question (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996).
Hirst, P. & Zeitlin, J., Flexible specialisation and the failure of UK manufacturing, Political
Quarterly, Vol. 60, No. 3, 1989, pp. 164]178.
Hirst, P. & Zeitlin, J., Flexible specialisation vs. post Fordism: theory, evidence and policy
implications, Economy and Society, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1991, p.
Hofstede, G., Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values (London:
Sage, 1980).
Hofstede, G. & Bond, M., The confucian connection: from cultural roots to economic
growth, Organisational Dynamics, Vol. 4, 1988, pp. 5]21.
Hopwood, A. G., The archaeology of accounting systems, Accounting, Organizations, and
Society, Vol. 12, No. 3, 1987, pp. 207]234.
Hoskin, K. & Macve, R., Writing, examining, disciplining: the genesis of accountings
modern power, in A. G. Hopwood and P. Miller (eds.) Accounting as Social and
Institutional Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
Hyman, R., The theory of production, and the production of theory, in Pollert (ed.)
Farewell Flexibility (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991).
Inkeles, A. & Levison, D., National character: the study of modal personality and socio
cultural systems, in G. Linsay and E. Aronson (eds.) The Handbook of Social Psychology,
Vol. 4 (New York: Addisson Wesley, 1969).
Jaggi, B., The impact of cultural environments on financial disclosure, International
Journal of Accounting Education and Research, January 1975, pp. 75]84.
Jessop, B., Thatcherism and flexibility, the white heat of the post Fordist revolution, in
B. Jessop, H. Kastendiek, K. Nielsen and O. Pedersen (eds.) The Politics of Flexibility
(Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1991).
Landes, D., Revolution on Time: Clocks and the making of the Modern World (Cambridge, Mass,
1983).
Lash, S. & Urry, J., The End of Organised Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1987).
Lash, S. & Urry, J., Economics of Signs and Space: After Organised Capitalism (London: Sage,
1993).
Lehman, C. R., Accountings Changing Role in Social Conflict (New York: Marcus Wiener
Publications, 1992).
Lipietz, A., The Enchanted World: Inflation, Credit and the World Crisis (London: Verso, 1985).
Lipietz, A., Mirages and Miracle: The Crisis of Global Fordism (London: Verso, 1987).
Lovering, J., Theorising post Fordism: why contingency matters} a further response to
Scott, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 15, 1991, pp. 298]301.
Marx, K., Capital, Vol. 1 and 2 (New York: Harmondworth, 1967).
Marx, K., Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1, Translated by B. Fowkes (London:
Penguin, 1976) (Original 1867).
Meegan, R., A crisis of mass production, in J. Allen, D. Massey (eds.) The Economy in
Question: Restructuring Britain (London: Sage, 1988).
Merino, B. D. & Neimark, M. D., Disclosure regulation and public policy; a socio historical
appraisal, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol. 1, 1982, pp. 33]57.
Miller, P., Hopper, T. & Laughlin, R., The new accounting history, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Vol. 16, Nos. 5 / 6, 1991, pp. 395]404.
Mosco, V., The Political Economy of Communication (London: Sage, 1996).
Mueller, G. G., International Accounting (New York: MacMillan, 1967).
Mueller, G. G., Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States vs. those
generally accepted elsewhere, International Journal of Accounting, Spring 1968, pp.
91]103.
Nair, R. D. & Frank, W. G., The impact of disclosure and measurement practices on
international accounting classification, Accounting Review, July 1980, pp. 426]450.
Neilsen, L., Towards a flexible future: theories and politics, in B. Jessop, H. Kastendiek,
K. Neilsen and O. Pedersen (eds.) The Politics of Flexibility (Aldershot: Edward Elgar,
1991).
Nobes, C., The Gallarini account book of 1305]1308, Accounting Review, Vol. 57, No. 2,
1982, pp. 303]310.
Nobes, C., A judgemental international classification of financial reporting practices,
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Spring 1983, pp. 1]19.
Nobes, C., An International Classification of Financial Reporting (London: Routledge, 1992).
Nobes, C. & Parker, R., Comparative International Accounting (London: Prentice Hall, 1995).
Offe, C., Disorganised Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1985).
152
T. Boczko
Palloix, C., The internationalisation of capital and the circuits of social capital, in H.
Radice (ed.) International Firms and Modern Imperialism (London: Penguin Harmondsworth, 1975).
Palloix, C., The self expansion of capital on a world scale, Review of Radical Political
Economics, Vol. 9, 1977, pp. 1]28.
Parker, R. H., The study of accounting history, in M. Bromwhich, A. G. Hopwood (eds.)
Essays in British Accounting Research (London: Pitman, 1981).
Parsons, T., The Structure of Socialisation (New York: McGraw Hill, 1937).
Parsons, T., The Social System (Chicago: Chicago Free Press, 1951).
Parsons, T. & Shils, E., Towards a Theory of Social Action (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1951).
Parsons, T., Bales, R. F. & Shils, E., Working Papers on the Theory of Action (Chicago:
Chicago Free Press, 1953).
Perera, M. H. B., Culture and international accounting: some thoughts on research issues
and prospects, Advances in International Accounting, Vol. 7, 1994, pp. 265]283.
Perera, M. H. B. & Matthews, M. R., The cultural relativity of accounting and international
patterns of social accounting, Advances in International Accounting, Vol. 3, 1990, pp.
215]251.
Piore, M. J. & Sabel, C. F., The Second Industrial Divide (New York: Basic Books, 1984).
Polanyi, K., The Great Transformation (New York: Reinhart, 1944).
Polanyi, K., The Livelihood of Man (New York: Academic Press, 1977).
Pollert, A., The orthodoxy of flexibility, in A. Pollert (ed.) Farewell to Flexibility (Oxford:
Blackwell, 1991).
Power, P., The audit society, in A. G. Hopwood and P. Miller (eds.) Accounting as Social
and Institutional Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
Previts, G. J., On the subject of methodology and models of international accounting,
Journal of International Accounting and Education, Spring 1975.
Price Waterhouse, Accounting Principles and Practices: A Survey of 38 Countries (London:
ICAEW, 1973).
Price Waterhouse, Accounting Principles and Practices: A Survey of 46 Countries (London:
ICAEW, 1975/ 6).
Price Waterhouse, International Survey of Accounting Principles and Reporting Practices
(Ontario: Butterworths, 1979).
Psychopedis, K., Crisis of theory in contemporary social sciences, in W. Bonefeld and J.
Holloway (eds.) Post Fordism and Social Form (London: MacMillan, 1991).
Puxty, A. G., Willmott, H. C., Cooper, D. J. & Lowe, E. A., Modes of regulation in
advanced capitalism: locating accounting in four countries, Accounting, Organizations,
and Society, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1987, pp. 273]291.
Radebaugh, L. & Gray, S. G., International Accounting and Multinational Enterprises (New
York: Wiley, 1997).
Rebmann-Huber, E., The influence of various groups on accounting standard setting in sixteen
developed countries: model and empirical evidence, Unpublished dissertation, University of
Washington} quoted in F. D. S. Choi and G. G. Mueller (1992) International Accounting
(NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988).
Ricardo, D., Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (London: Dent, 1973).
Richardson, A. J., Accounting knowledge and professional privilege, Accounting, Organizations, and Society, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1988, pp. 381]396.
Robson, K., Willmott, H. C., Cooper, D., Puxty, A. G. & Lowe, E. A., The regulation of
accountancy and accountants: a comparative analysis of accounting for research and
development in four advanced capitalist countries, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 5, No. 2, 1992, pp. 32]56.
Rusty, M., The politics of post Fordism, or the trouble with new times, New Left Review,
Vol 175, 1989, pp. 54]78.
Sabel, C., Work and Politics: The Division of Labour in Industry (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1982).
Sabel, C. & Zeitlin, J., Historical alternatives to mass production: politics, markets and
technology in 19 century industrialisation, Past and Present, Vol. 108, 1985, pp. 133]176.
Salter, S. & Niswander, F., Cultural influence on the development of accounting systems
internationally: a test of Grays (1988) theory, Journal of International Business Studies,
2nd Quarter, 1988, p. 384.
Sassen, S., The Global City (New York, London, Tokyo: Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1991).
Savage, M. & Warde, A., Urban Sociology, Capitalism, and Modernity (London: MacMillan,
1993).
Classification
153
Schrank, R. & Abelson, R., Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding: An Enquiry into Human
Knowledge (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1977).
Schumpeter, J., Capitalism, Socialism, Democracy (London: Allen and Urwin, 1987).
Siedler, L. J., International accounting} the ultimate theory, Accounting Review, October
1967.
Soloman, D., Accounting and social change: a neutralist view, Accounting, Organizations,
and Society, Vol. 16, No. 8, 1991, pp. 287]295.
Smith, A., An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1976).
Smith, N., Uneven Development, New York, 1984.
Swidler, A., Culture in actions, symbols, and strategies, American Sociological Review,
Vol. 51, 1986, pp. 273]286.
Thomas, A. P., The effects of organisational culture on choices of accounting methods,
Accounting and Business Research, Vol. 76, No. 19, 1989, pp. 363]378.
Thrift, N., The fixers; the urban geography of international commercial capital, in J.
Henderson and M. Castells (eds.) Global Restructuring and Territorial Development (London:
Sage, 1987).
Tinker, A. M., A political economy of accounting, Accounting, Organizations, and Society,
1980, pp. 147]160.
Tinker, A. M., Paper Prophets (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1985).
Tinker, A. M., Lehman, C. & Neimark, M. D., Falling down the hole in the middle of the
road: political quietism in corporate social reporting, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1991, pp. 28]54.
Wallerstein, I., Three instances in the history of the capitalist world economy, in K. W.
Stiles and T. Akana (eds.) International Political Economy } A Reader (New York: Harper
Collins, 1991).
Watts, R. L., Corporate financial statements: a product of the market and the political
process, Australian Journal of Management, April 1977, pp. 52]75.
Watts, R. L. & Zimmerman, J. L., Towards a positive theory of the determination of
accounting standards, The Accounting Review, Vol. 53, January 1978, pp. 112]134.
Watts, R. L. & Zimmerman, J. L., Positive Accounting Theories (New York: Prentice Hall,
1986).
Weber, M., The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation (New York: Free Press, 1947).
Weber, M., Objectivity in social sciences and social polity, The Methodology of Social
Sciences (New York: Free Press, 1949).
Weber, M., General Economic History (New York: Collier Books, 1961).
Weber, M., Economy and Society (New York: Bedminster Press, 1968).
Weber, M., Economy and Society, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1978.
Willmott, H. C., Puxty, T. & Sikka, P., Commentary, losing ones reason: on the integrity
of accounting academics, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1993,
pp. 98]110.