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Accounting without accounting Informational proxies and the construction of organisational discourses

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Purpose – An effective management accounting information system (MAIS), as well as the
accounting discourse related to it, can support, facilitate, enable, and constrain diverse business
discourses. This paper aims to examine the discursive and organisational effects of an organisation
accounting upon absent accounting artefacts, i.e. accounting without accounting. Situated within the
discursive literature, this paper examines the construction of competing articulations of the
organisation by focusing on what accounting does or does not do within an organisation. In particular,
the paper acknowledges the fundamental importance of the accounting discourse in supporting,
facilitating, enabling, and constraining competing organisational discourses, as it illustrates how the
absence of accounting centralises power within the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach – From a rhetorical, discursive perspective, the authors develop
an in-depth qualitative case study in a manufacturing organisation where MAIS has been abandoned
for approximately two years. Interpretive research approaches, from a post-structural perspective,
provided the base for the structure of the research. The authors studied how other organisational
discourses (such as entrepreneurship and growth), which are traditionally constructed with reference
to accounting and other artefacts, continued to be produced and sustained. The non-use and
non-availability of management accounting information created a vacuum that needed to be filled. The
lack of discursive counterpoints and counter-evidence provided by MAIS created a vacuum of
information, allowing powerful, proxy discourses to prevail in the organisation, increasing risks to
business management.
Findings – The absence of MAIS to support an accounting discourse requires that contingent
discourses “fill in the discursive gap”. Despite appearances, they are no substitute for the accounting
discourse. Thus, over time, the entrepreneurial, growth and partners’ discourses lose credibility,
without the corresponding use of management accounting information and its associated discourse.
Originality/value – There are at least two main contributions from the case study and the findings
presented in this paper: first, they provide a new perspective for studying MAIS, as a specific
organisational discourse among other discourses that shape people relationship within the
organisation as an examination of accounting without accounting. Second, this discussion reinforces
the relevance of accounting discourse for other organisational discourses, supporting, facilitating,
enabling, and constraining them, by demonstrating the effects of its absence.

Keywords Management accounting, Business discourses, Discourse theory, Rhetoric analysis

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Emeral Group., 2014

Deskripsi Fisik

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 27 No. 3, 2014 pp. 426-464

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

AKUNTANSI

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

Asmawati/Syahrial

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