Cooper and Hopper 1987 -- Critical Studies in Accounting

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408 DAV1D . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER

tal psychol ogy into the account ing domain

(Burns, 1972). Accordingly, the contri buti ons

to the Conference, and particularly to the special

issues, experienced a penetrating review pro-

cess. For this special issue, all the pap ers wer e re-

vised following two referees' reports prior topresentation at the Conference and each bene-

fited from an expert comm ent ary at the confer-

ence itself. These revised papers were then re-

viewed by at least two further independent

specialists.

This introductory essay explores two issues

which arise out o f a joint reading.of the six pap-

ers in this issue. Elsewhere we have commented

on the rise (and perhaps demise) of the critical

accounting movement (Cooper & Hopper, in

press). Here we focus on why and ho w account-

ing is important in mode rn soc iety and how we

may conceive of "interests" in explaining this

significance.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ACCOUNTING

The accounti ng profession in the U.K. and

U.S.A. must surely be one of the growth indus-

tries of the last twent y years (Stevens, 1982;

Renshall, 1984). With the increasing legal re-

quirements for audit in the EEC, this growth is

likely to extend to many other countries inEurope. The accounti ng industry is one of the

largest empl oyers o f graduates in the U.K. and

U.S.A. Oth er images of acco unta nts are ambigu-

ous. Accou ntan ts are often seen as tedious book-

keepers and dull, trustwor thy auditors. Yet other

images focus on the world of international fi-

nance and the role of account ing in efficiency

studies, both in the private and public sectors.

The image of accountants as powerful money

men (rarely women!) would suggest that

government s and society would take an interest

in their activities. Aside from occasional Con-

gressional forays since the mid 1970s, this has

hardly been the case. The activities of accoun-

tants in the U.K. and U.S.A. have b een subjec t to

self regulation rather more than any form of di-

rect public control. Although sociologists have

cond uct ed man y studies of lawyers and doctors,

there has been comparati vely little attention on

accountants except for one or two notable ex-

ceptions (Montagna, 1974; Johnson, 1972).

Within the mainstream academic accounting

community, the re has been a tendenc y to ques-

tion t he significance of accounting practices and

accountants, particularly in the conte xt of per-fect markets. Apparently there is a limited, risk

sharing, role for public financial information in a

competitive, general equilibrium context

(Ohls on & Buckman, 1980). The evidence from

studies of the informational efficiency of stock

markets suggests that published accounting in-

formation is somewhat r edundant in the cont ext

of multiple and more timely information sources

(Beaver, 1981 ). Even the in vestment in financial

controls and sophisticated investment appraisal

techniques do not seem to be strongly as-

sociated with firm performance (Klammer,

1973; Haka e t a l . , 1985).

It is perhaps no t surprising then that ac count-

ing information does not seem to be wide ly used

in organisations (Dew and Gee, 1975; Berry e t

a l . , 1985; Preston, 1986) or well understood

(Lee & Tweedie, 1977).

The argument of many of the papers in this

issue is that such statements are largely irrelev-

ant. Accounting may be significant in organisa-

tions and s ociety even if it is not extensively

used or understood. Armstrong offers an expla-nation of the comparative pre-eminence of ac-

countants in British management and the use of

financial mod es of contr ol in British companies .

His explanations focus on the particular nature

of the British economy and its historical

emergence. Most crucially, the response of

British firms to control s in warti me and periodic

profit crises was to elevate the significance of

financial calculations and t he ro le of financial in-

stitutions in the reorganisa tion o f British indus-

try. Account ing is significant beca use it helps to

shape t he specific form of the "global functi on of

capital" in the U.K., bot h identi fying the natu re of

probl ems and offering solutions to them. The in-

ference from Armstrong's comparative histori-

cal analysis of German and U.K. acc ount ing is

that there is no inevitability about account ing's

significance in a capitalist economy and of

course there was no i nexorable logic that led to



CRITICALSTUDIES N ACCOUNTING 409

a c c o u n t in g ' s c o m p a r a t i v e p r e - e m i n e n c e i n th e

U .K . I n s t e a d o f t h e r e b e i n g a n y s y s t e m a t i c

s t r a te g y b y a c c o u n t a n t s t o a c h i e v e p r o m i n e n c e ,

t h e s i g n i f ic a n c e o f a c c o u n t i n g i n t h e U .F L i s th e

o u t c o m e o f s e v er a l, m o r e o r l e s s i n d e p e n d e n t ,

p r o c e s s e s . T h e s e a r o s e f i r s t f r o m t h e r e l a t i v e l yi n d i r e c t f o r m o f w a r t i m e s t a te i n t e r v e n t i o n

w h i c h l e a d t o i n te r n a l c o s t s y s te m s , s e c o n d f r o m

t h e s i g n i f ic a n c e o f th e B r i ti s h f in a n c i a l s y s t e m

a n d c a p i t a l m a r k e t s a n d t h e r i s e o f a u d i ti n g , a n d

t h i r d l y f r o m r o l e o f f in a n c i a l i n s t i tu t i o n s i n

r a t i o n a l i s i n g a n d r e - o r g a n i s i n g B r i t i s h i n d u s t r y

t h r o u g h l i q u id a t io n s , m e r g e r a c t i v i ty a n d t h e a s -

s o c i a t e d n e e d f o r fi n a n c ia l d i r e c t o r s t o l ia is e

w i t h t h e C i ty .

A r m s t r o n g ' s a n a ly s i s i s a b r o a d o n e , u s i n g s e c -

o n d a r y h i s t o r i c a l s o u r c e s t o i l l u s t r a t e h i s a r g u -

m e n t s a b o u t t h e r o l e o f a c c o u n t i n g i n th e g l o b a l

f u n c t i o n s o f c a p i ta l . A r m s t r o n g c l as s if ie s t h e

e c o n o m i c f u n c t i o n s w i t h i n t h e g l o b a l f u n c t i o n

o f c a p i t a l as t h e e x t r a c t i o n , r e a l is a t i o n a n d a l lo -

c a t i o n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e . I n i d e n t i f y i n g t h e s i g n if i-

c a n c e o f a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s i n t h e U . K. t h e

p a p e r c o n c e n t r a t e s o n t h e e x t e r n a l a s p e c ts o f

t h e a l l o c a t i o n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e , n o t a b l y t h e c r e a -

t io n a n d i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f r u l e s f o r b a n k r u p t c y

a n d a u d i t. H i s a n a l y s is o f t h e r o l e o f a c c o u n t i n g

i n t h e e x t r a c t i o n a n d r e a l i s a t io n o f s u r p l u s v a l u e

is a u g m e n t e d b y t h a t o f H o p p e r , S t o r e y an d

W i l l m o t t .

H o p p e r et al., p r o v i d e a n a c c e s s ib l e a n d c o m -

p r e h e n s i v e r e v i e w a n d c r i t iq u e o f t h e c o n v e n -

t i o n a l , i n t e r p r e t a t i v e a n d l a b o u r p r o c e s s p e r -

s p e c t i v e s o n a c c o u n t i n g . T h e c e n t r a l t h r u s t o f

t h e i r a r g u m e n t c o n c e r n s t h e s i g n if ic a n c e o f a c-

c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s i n th e l a b o u r p r o c e s s , w h i c h

is a n o t h e r w a y o f e x p r e s s i n g t h e p r a c t i c e s a n d

o u t c o m e s t h a t m e d i a t e b e t w e e n t h e g lo b a l f u n c-

t i o n s o f c a p i ta l a n d t h e c o l l e c t i v e l a b o u r , r e f e r-

r e d t o b y A r m s t r o n g . A lt h o u g h B r a v e r m a n ' sa n al y si s o f th e l a b o u r p r o c e s s ( 1 9 7 4 ) h a s in -

f o r m e d n u m b e r o f w r i t in g s o n t h e s i g n if ic a n c e o f

a c c o u n t i n g , H o p p e r et al. e m p h a s i s e o n e r e l a -

t iv e l y n e g l e c t e d a s p e c t o f hi s w o r k . T h e y s t r e s s

t h e l a b o u r p r o c e s s i n m a n a g e m e n t a n d t h e r is e

o f p a p e r ( a c c o u n t i n g ) e m p i r e s w h i c h r e p li c at e

t h e p r o c e s s e s o f p r o d u c t i o n a n d m a k e p o s s i b le

t h e c o n t r o l o f p r o d u c t i o n b y t h e o ff ic e . A l t h o u g h

d o u b t i n g i ts s o c i a l v a l u e , th i s a n a l y s is p r o v i d e s

a n e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h e p e r v a s i v e n e s s o f a c c o u n t -

i n g a n d f i n a n c e a s t h e " b r a i n " o f l a r g e o r g a n i s a-

t io n s a n d t h e c r i t i c a l n a t u r e o f t h e a s c r i p t i o n o f

h o n e s t y t h a t m a n a g e m e n t a c c o u n t a n t s o b t a i n

f r o m t h e i r a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h a u d i ti n g . T h i s i n tu r nh a s i m p l ic a t io n s f o r th e v i e w a n d a c c e p t a n c e o f

a c c o u n t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n a s o b j e c t i v e , tr u s t w o r -

t h y a n d v a l u e f r e e . T h i s i m p l i c a t i o n i s f u r t h e r

e x p l o r e d b y K n i g h t s & C o l l in s o n i n t h e i r p a p e r.

T h e p a p e r s b y A r m s t ro n g , H o p p e r et aL and

K n i g h t s & C o l li n s o n a ll s h a r e a c o m m i t m e n t t o

u n d e r s t a n d i n g a c c o u n t i n g i n a h i s t o r i c a l a n d c u l -

t u r a l c o n t e x t . T h e l a t t e r t w o p a p e r s m o r e

e x p l ic i tl y e m b r a c e a v i e w o f t h e m e d i a t i o n o f t h e

c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n c a p i t a l a n d l a b o u r a s a s o c i a l

p r o c e s s . T h e y d e v e l o p t h e l a b o u r p r o c e s s p e r -

s p e c t i v e o f B r a v e r m a n ( 1 9 7 4 ) b y s t re s s i n g t h e

r o l e o f s u b j e c t s i n d i al e c t ic a l p r o c e s s e s o f c o n -

t r o l in v o l v i n g p e o p l e w h o b o t h r e si s t a n d r e p r o -

d u c e s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s i n s i d e a n d o u t s i d e t h e o r -

g a n i s a t i o n . T h i s i s a c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e l a b o u r

p r o c e s s l i t e r a tu r e i ts e lf , i n d i c a t i n g h o w a c c o u n t -

i ng p l a y s a r o l e i n t h e w a y s i n w h i c h m a n a g e r s

a n d o t h e r e m p l o y e e s i n t er p re t , a c c o m m o d a t e

a n d r e s i s t t h e s o - c a l l e d " l o g i c o f c a p i t a l is m " . T h i s

t h e m e o f t h e d i a l e ct ic o f c o n t r o l i s d e v e l o p e d b y

K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n i n a n e m p i r i c a l c o n t e x t .

K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n e x a m i n e m a n a g e r i a l d i s -c i p li n e t h r o u g h a d e ta i l ed c a s e s tu d y o f t w o m a n -

a g e r i a l a t t e m p t s t o c o n t r o l w o r k e r s i n a t r u c k a s -

s e m b l y p la n t . T h e y c o n t r a s t t h e r e s i s t a n c e t o

m a n a g e r i a l a t t e m p t s t o c o n t r o l t h e s h o p f l o o r

t h r o u g h t h e u s e o f h u m a n r e la t io n s t e c h n i q u e s

( c o m p a n y m a g a z i n e s a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

s t r e s s i n g a m a n a g e r i a l c u l t u r e o f o p e n n e s s ,

c o o p e r a t i o n a n d c o m m o n a l i t y o f p u r p o s e ) w i th

t h e f a ta l is t ic a c c e p t a n c e b y t h e s e s a m e w o r k e r s

o f a c c o u n t i n g i n f o r m a t i o n w h i c h w a s l ik e w i s e

u s e d t o c o n t r o l t h e m , t h i s t im e i n t e r m s o f r e -d u n d a n c i e s a n d c l o s u r e o f a d i v is i o n . T h e s i g n if i-

c a n c e o f a cc o u n t i n g i n f o r m a ti o n ( c o m p a r e d t o

o t h e r f o r m s o f m a n a g e r i a l d i s c ip l i n a r y t e c h -

n i q u e s ) i s t h a t i t is n o t r e s i s t e d . T h i s is n o t j u s t

b e c a u s e o f a l ac k o f k n o w l e d g e a n d e x p e r t i s e

n e c e s s a r y f o r " r a t i o n a l " r e s i s t a n c e b u t a l s o b e -

c a u s e o f t h e a b i l i t y o f f i n a n c i a l c a l c u l a t i o n s t o

d r a w o n , a n d i n d e e d r e p r o d u c e , t h e w o r k e r s



410 DAVID . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER

own definition of their subjectivity. In particu-

lar, accountin g figures wer e c ompatibl e with the

values of the men work ing on the pro ductio n

line. Like their ow n self-image of men, the work-

ers saw the figures as straight (ob jective), practi-

cai (relating to reality) and dominant (causingthings to happen). This provo cativ e view of the

pow er of finance and acc ounti ng figures, as

owing s ome of their significance to their mas-

culine qualities and their ability to individuaiise

workers, offers psychologica l and social insights

into the reasons for the increasing pervasiveness

of, and acquiescence to, financial calculations in

moder n society.

As the title o f their paper indicates, Lehman &

Tinker direct ly address the significance of ac-

counting in modern society. They make the

analysis of accou ntin g discourses, also discussed

in Knights & Collinson, central in their assess-

ment of accounting. Through a form of literary

discourse which assumes that accounting writ-

ings are a form o f symbolization and interpreta-

tion of the social world, th ey examine three

accou ntin g and business journals in terms of the

way they strive to represen t and recreate the so-

cial world. Conventional understandings of the

(in)significance of accounting, as an informa-

tional input into decisions about, for example,

resou rce allocation, are augment ed by seeing ac-count ing as a social symbolic form, as a means o f

mobilizing interests. Accounting's "real" signifi-

cance relates to what it denies or prevents fro m

emerging as well as its ability to orientate mes-

sages to specific constituencies and issues and to

use and reproduce general themes that are em-

bedd ed in our cultural practices and discourses.

In particular, Lehman & Tinker ex plore in their

empirical work how accounting discourses re-

late to ch anging conceptualisations of the role of

the State and accounting practice themselves.

Specifically, they argue that their research can

be interpretated as showing how themes in the

journals reflect, legitimate and help to consti-

tute, the change from a consensuai to an au-

thoritar ian-popul arist state in the U.S. aroun d

the early part of the 1970s, and which em-

phasises accounti ng's role as an indepen dent en-

suring dedicated to the public interest.

The Lehman & Tinker paper utilises the ideas

of Gramsci on forms of hegemon y and the nature

of the mod ern state as well as the d evelop ments

of these ideas by Hail and his colleagues in orde r

to analyse accounting as a language. Laughlin is

similarly concerned with accounting as a lan-guage and to identify accounting 's social origins.

However Laughlin utilises, and argues for, the

critical theory of Habermas to under stand ac-

counting systems as language systems. The ap-

proac hes of Gramsci and Habermas are develop-

ments o f Marxian t hought but although they

bot h address the issue of ho w societies do and

should change, they do so with quite different

emphases. Habermas places greater emphasis in

meaning and change being the ou tcom e of self

conscio us action by people. He focusses particu-

larly on the ro le of language (which, for

Laughlin, includes a ccou nti ng) in shifting the ba-

lance from technical to social solutions to prob-

lems. Laughlin outlines what he sees as the de-

tailed stages of the requ ired language processes,

to redress the p owe r of technical systems (in-

cluding accounting systems) over the social

world (the meaning and values of people).

There seems muc h of interest to systems analysis

and design in the appro ach outlin ed by Laughlin

and it will be instructive to see how far the pro-

cesses of enlightenment, outlined in the paper,can be used in practice.

Thompson takes a position which is some-

what different from the othe r papers in this spe-

ciai issue in respect to the significance of ac-

counting. Like all the ot her contributions, he lo-

cates accou nting practices in a wider social con-

text but does not then identify the mechanisms

linking this cont ext t o accounting. He treats the

autono my of accounting practices as much more

extensive than, for example, Armstrong or

Lehman & Tinker. He emphasises a number of

"conditions of existence and possibility" which

makes particular types of accounting calculation

possible. Thomp son examines inflation account-

ing in the U.IC, identifyi ng the c ond itio ns of exis-

tence of its development in terms of a conce rn

with inflation, the existence of an organised pro-

fession develo ping standardised codes of prac-

tice, changing knowledge and conceptions of



CRITICAL STUDIES IN ACCOUN TING 411

accou ntin g theory; pressure fr om financial man-

agement and investment associated with mer ger

activity and a profit slump an d tax crisis in man-

ufacturing industry. Accounting calculations

exist at an intersection of prod ucti ve and finan-

cial activity in the U.K.; but what is important inthis statement is the ma nner by which this inter-

face and the role of accounting is concep-

tualised. In terms of a discussion abou t the sig-

nificance of accounting, Thompson' s section on

acco unti ng and the issue o f signification is par-

ticularly crucial.

For Thompso n, alth ough mo ne y fails to repre-

sent the "real" (this is particularly clear in in-

flationary condit ions ) it always signs or signifies

some c onc ept ion o f value, wealth, etc. His

theory of calculation focusses on ho w and what

is signed in accounti ng. But signification is more

than communication. Signs are always ambigu-

ous and unstable -- they have to be interpreted

and thus sho w acco unti ng as a set of linked prac-

tices for the generation of signifiers, which are

themselves inserted into the gaze or scrutiny of

specific agents for their own pu rpose s and mean-

ings. For Thompson then, the significance of

accounting calculations is depen dent on the par-

ticular and unstable purposes t o whi ch these cal-

culations are put. The conce ption of accounting

as repres enting somet hing else is reje cted and inits place is offered a view of accounting as as-

sociated with a series of both socially and inter-

nally contingent practices and discourses. To

understand the significance and develo pment o f

accounting it is necessary to examine its social

context, but this context has to be studied in

terms o f particular c onc ern s and variable pur-

poses, not a reading o f pre-given social func-

tions.

A con cer n to assess the significance of ac-

counting b oth as a set of practices and everyd ayand theoretical discourses is central to critical

studies in accounting. The papers in this issue

offer different ways of addressing this issue but

all share a commitment to analysing accounting

in its social context , as a part o f a set of othe r so-

cial eco nom ic and political institutions and prac-

tices. As the papers illustrate, these analyses are

often historical and seek to unders tand ac count-

ing as a set of cultural as well as econ omi c prac-

tices. The significance of acco untin g varies with

specific historic and institutional condit ions but

many of the papers point to the crucial involve-

ment of the state and the role of accounting in

conflict betw een different groups in society. Be-cause of the centrality of the conce rn with ac-

counti ng's role in conflict it is also not surprising

that a secon d the me of at least some of the pap-

ers in this issue concer ns the nature of interests.

ACCOUNT ING AND INTERESTS

Critical studies in accounting are frequently

conc erne d to explicate a theory of interests in

understanding accoun ting practice and theory.

In this collection of articles theories of interest

are explicitly consi dere d by Armstrong, Hopper

e t a i. , L e h m a n & Tinker and Thompson. Part of

this concern reflects what might be seen as an

unproblematic conc ept of interests that is

utilised in conventional attempts to understand

the significance, nature and purpo ses of ac-

counting.

Agency theory, for example, is predicated on

the analysis of inter-personal behaviou r whic h is

motivat ed by the different interests of principals

and agents. There m ay be shareh olders and man-

agers, shareholders and bondholders, superiorand subordinate managers in an organisational

hierar chy or informati on providers and users. In

each case, an actor is motivated by interests

which may be in conflict with the interests of

anoth er actor. Some versions of this theor y seek

to explain observed choices -- about corporate

reporting policy in respect to alternative

accounting measures, lobbying behaviour, di-

vidends, etc. -- in terms of the interests served

(Watts & Zimmerman, 1986). Other versions of

agency theory focus on optimal choice be-

haviour -- including choices about managerial

incentive schemes, reporting systems and or-

ganisational governance structures (Baiman,

1982). In either ver sion "interests" are assumed

to motivate choice behaviou r and are treated as

exog eno us (and pr ior) to the analysis of these

choices

From a somew hat different perspective, finan-



412 DAVID . COOPERand TREVORM. HOPPER

cial accounting research is frequently con-

cerned with developing accountingdisclosures

and measures which are intended to serve

specified interests. The FASB's conceptual

framework project revolves around the notion

of the interests o f informe d investors. In thesame tradition research has been con duct ed on

the accounting information which wo uld be in

the interests of i n t e r a l i a , employees, bank loan

officers, creditors and managers. The more radi-

cal research on accounting shares one charac-

teristic with these m ore convent ional traditions.

Radical accounti ng often identifies the interests

of capitalists and workers and from this prior

conceptualisati on of interests (for example, that

capitalist interests concern capital accumula-

tion), it either exposes how these interests are

served or seeks to create new accountings that

serve the interests of the workers (perhaps in

the for m of social or public interest acco unting).

Armstrong and Laughlin adopt sophisticated

versions o f this vi ew o f interests as affecting the

nature or potential of accounting. For

Armstrong, the particular features of U.K.

capitalism in the twentieth century explain the

pre-eminences of accountants in British indus-

try. The interests of capital in co-ordinatin g the

extraction, realisation and allocation of surplus

value explains the significance of accou nting inthe U.I~ For Armstrong these interests are not

crud e functionalist imperatives but nevertheless

the logic of the system m the interest in capital

accumulation -- provides the motivation for the

specific role of accounting in the society he

examines. Laughlin's conce pti on of interests is

implicit in the motivations of actors in the par-

ticular dev elopment process of critical theory

which he espouses. Interests again seem to be

pre-given, but for Laughlin these are based on

the individual and his or her self consciou sness

and are not clearly articulated with wider social

relations. Accoun ting designs are to be the logi-

cal consequence of a developmental process

whe re interests motivate the discourse of the

parties involved.

The papers by Hopper e t a l . , Knights & Collin-

son and Lehman & Tinker ext end these views by

addressing the constitution and reproductio n of

interests. In all three papers, interests are pro-

duced, not pre-given, and a concern is to show

how the contex t and the person are intertwined

in the process of constructing and reproducing

the subject's interests. Knights & CoUinson

focus on resistance and argue that outc omes arenot simply a resolution of manager's interests

and inventions but are a complex and under-

deter mined result of their interplay. Further,

they argue that the constructi on of workers' in-

terests is to a considerable ex tent the pro duc t of

managerial strategies o f discipline and control.

The cycle of discipline and co ntro l both pro-

duces and confirms itsel f-- workers are treated,

and respond, as commodities seeking economic

gain. Hopper e t a l . likewise emphasise con-

tradictory class positions and managerial and

worker resistance in giving shape to organisa-

tional controls. However, th ey lay considerabl y

mor e stress on the limits of resistance and the

existence of structures of domination that are

the me dium and ou tco me of social forces. In the

last instance they acknowledge the existence of

interests as motivating behaviour but that these

interests are constantly being recreated and

modified (within limits set by the wider total-

ity).

This is a position similar to that adopted by

Lehman & Tinker. The conceptuali sation o f in-terests and the role of accounting d i s c o u r s e s i n

the constitution o f i n t e r e s t s is a central th eme of

their paper. Th ey directly address the view of ac-

count ing as "infused with interests", asking how

interests should be theorised and why account-

ing is central in mobilising interests. They offer

one w ay of addressing these questions by treat-

ing accounting as a social symbolic form. Con-

flict and harmony of interest may occur simul-

taneously in a relationship and may operate at

the level of classes, culture and th e individual.

Utilising this multi-level analysis, Lehman &

Tinker theorise changes in the balance between

interests and how i n t e r e s t s a r e mobilised at

specific historic junctures. Thus, although they

are concerned to trace the way in which

accounting journals, like other forms of media,

help to constitute interests (and are themselves

constituted by changing cultural d i s c o u r s e s ) ,



CRITICALSTUDIES N ACCOUNTING 413

L e h m a n & T i n k e r c o n c e i v e o f t h e s e i n t e r e s t s a s

f o r m i n g a t o t a l i t y - - r e p r o d u c i n g c o n d i t i o n s c o n -

d u c i v e t o c a p i t a l a c c u m u l a t i o n . I n t h is r e s p e c t

t h e y h a v e m o r e i n c o m m o n w i t h H o p p e r et aL

t h a n w i t h K n i g h t s & C o l l i n s o n an d T h o m p s o n .

T h o m p s o n , i n h i s c o n c e r n t o d e v e l o p a th e o r yo f i n t e r e s t s , s e e k s t o d i s t i n g u i s h i t f r o m t h e l i t e r -

a t u r e o n t h e p o l i t i c a l e c o n o m y o f a c c o u n t i n g

a n d p r e s u m a b l y t h e p e r s p e c t i v e s i n th e o t h e r

c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h i s s p e c i a l is su e . H is t h e o r y o f

c a l c u l a t i o n is , i n e s s e n c e , a m o r e u n c o m p r o m i s -

i n g s t a t e m e n t a b o u t i n t e r e s t s b e i n g p r o d u c e d

a n d r e p r o d u c e d t h r o u g h p r a c t i c e s , c a l c u l a t i o n s

a n d d i s c o u r se s . I n t e r e s t s a r e n o t p r e d e t e r m i n e d

b y t h e e c o n o m i c o r c u l t u ra l d o m a i n , b u t a r e

d e t e r m i n e d w i t h i n a n d b y p r a c t i c e s a n d a r e c o n -

s e q u e n t l y h e t e r o g e n e o u s . I t i s t h i s h e t e r o -

g e n e i t y o f i n t e r e s t s a n d h i s u n w i l l i n g n e s s t o u s e

t h e n o t i o n o f a t o t a li t y , t o g e t h e r w i t h h i s a r g u -

m e n t t h a t e v e n ts m a y b e u n d e r d e t e r m i n e d w i t h

r e s p e c t t o i n te r e s t s , t h a t l e a d s T h o m p s o n t o

s t r e s s t h e s p e c i f i t y o f e v e n t s a n d e f f e c t s. F o r

T h o m p s o n i t i s o n l y b y s t u d y i n g th e c o n d i t i o n s

a n d c o n s t r a i n t s o f s p e c i f i c d e b a t e s a n d e v e n t s

t h a t i t is p o s s i b l e t o i d e n t i f y t h e d e t e r m i n a n t s o f

a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s . A s t u d y o f t h e d e v e l o p -

m e n t o f a n y a c c o u n t i n g c a l c u l a t i o n i n v o lv e s a

w o r k i n g t h r o u g h o f t h e v a r i o u s a n d m u l t i p l e

f o r c e s th a t s u r r o u n d t h o s e c a l c u l a t i o n s a n d s u c h

a s t u d y is n o t h e l p e d b y r e f e r e n c e t o i n t e re s t s o r

t o a t o t a l it y . In l e s s s o p h i s t i c a t e d a n a l y s e s t h a n

t h a t o f f e re d b y T h o m p s o n , t h e r e i s a d a n g e r i n

t h i s a p p r o a c h d e v e l o p i n g i n t o c r u d e i n d u c -

t iv i s m , b u t T h o m p s o n p r e s e n t s a d e v a s t a t in g

c r i t i q u e o f t h e a l t e r n a t i v e d a n g e r , w h i c h , u n f o r -

t u n a t e ly , i s q u i t e p r e v a l e n t i n t h e l i t e r a t u r e , o f

t h e c r u d e a s c r i p t i o n o f i n t e r e s t ( w h e t h e r c l a s so r s e l f - i n t e re s t ) t o e x p l a i n a c c o u n t i n g p r a c t i c e s .

C O N C L U S I O N

I n t h is i n t r o d u c t o r y e s s ay w e h a v e i d e n t i f ie d

t w o i s su e s w h i c h a r e a d d r e s s e d b y m u c h o f t h e

c r i t ic a l l i t e r a t u r e i n a c c o u n t i n g . O f c o u r s e t h e r e

a r e m a n y o t h e r i s s u e s a d d r e s s e d i n t h e c o n t r i b u -

t i o n s t o t h i s s p e c i a l i s s u e, a n d a s s o c i a t e d p u b l i c a -

t io n s . I n d e e d , w e w o u l d b e a n x i o u s t o a v o i d a n y

i m p r e s s i o n t h a t c r i t i c a l s t u d i e s i n a c c o u n t i n g a r e

a n y t h i n g o t h e r t h a n a c o l l e c t i o n o f d i v e r s e a n d

s t i m u l a t i n g c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h e s t u d y o f a c -

c o u n t i n g i n i ts s o c i a l c o n t e x t . B y d r a w i n g t h e s e

p a p e r s t o g e t h e r , h o w e v e r , w e h a v e r e f l e c t e d o n

t h e i r c o m m o n a l i t i e s r a t h e r t h a n t h e i r d if f er -

e n c e s . T h r o u g h m u l t i p l e id e n t i f i c a t i o n s a n d

r e a d i n g s o f t h e s e p a p e r s w e h o p e a s e ri e s o f

c u m u l a t i v e d e v e l o p m e n t s i n t h e a r e a o f c r i t i c a l

a c c o u n t i n g c a n t a k e p l a c e . I n d e e d , w e l o o k fo r -

w a r d t o c o n t i n u i n g l iv e l y a n d t o l e r a n t d e b a t e ,

n o t l e a s t i n t h e s e c o n d I n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y P e r-

s p e c t i v e s o n A c c o u n t i n g C o n f e r e n c e w h i c h i s t o

b e h e l d i n M a n c h e s t e r i n J u l y 1 9 8 8 .

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

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414 DAVIDJ. COOPER and TREVOR M. HOPPER

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Montagna, P., C e r t i fi e d P u b l i c A c c o u n t i n g : a S o c i o l o g i c a l V i e w o f a P r o f e s s i o n i n C h a n g e (Houston,

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O r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d S o c i e ty ( 1986 ) pp. 369-396 .

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C o n t r o ve r s ie s , A c c o u n t i n g O r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d S o c i e t y ( 1 9 8 0 ) pp . 147-160.

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Cooper and Hopper 1987 -- Critical Studies in Accounting

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