Jacobs and Stephen Wlaker - Accounting & Accountability

7/25/2019 Jacobs and Stephen Wlaker - Accounting & Accountability

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ACCOUNTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

IN THE IONA COMMUNITY

Kerry Jacobs

&

Stephen Walker

Department of Accounting and Business MethodWilliam Robertson Building

50 George SquareUniversity of Edinburgh

Edinburgh EH8 9JYScotland

E.Mail: [email protected]: 0131 650 8343

The authors acknowledge the contribution of the staff and members of the Iona Community.

This project was supported by the Moray Endowment Fund.


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ABSTRACT

This paper explores the issue of accounting and accountability in the theology and practices of

an ecumenical Christian group the Iona Community. Fundamental to the existence andoperation of the Iona Community is their Rule, which requires all full-members to account to

each other for their use of money and time. This paper explores the development of that ruleand how it is practised. It examines the accounting practices of individuals in the Community

and explores the distinction between individualising and socialising accountabilities.Findings reported conflict with Laughlins (1988) distinction between the sacred and secularand the claim that accounting is a force of secular colonisation. In the Iona community

accounting served to support the sacred practices and spirituality of individual membersthrough process of socialising accountability.


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ACCOUNTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

IN THE IONA COMMUNITY

INTRODUCTION

It was in the first decade of the twentieth century that Weber suggested a relationship betweenProtestantism, capitalism and bookkeeping. Since the appearance of that highly influentialwork accounting researchers have seldom explored the potential linkages between Christian

religion and accounting. This is despite the fact that several historical studies in particular,identify such a relationship (see Walker and Llewellyn, 1999). In seeking to examine

accounting as a situated practice (Hopwood, 1983), it is desirable to look more extensively atthe intersection between accounting and religion. This paper seeks to examine the practice ofaccounting and accountability in the theology and among the members of an ecumenical

Christian group: The Iona Community.

The accounting literature on non-profit organisations contains a number of contributions onaccounting and accountability in churches and other religious groups but these aresurprisingly few given the social and economic significance of many of these organisations.

Generally it has been assumed that accounting practices are rather underdeveloped inreligious settings and a number of papers have critiqued the perceived absence of proper

private sector accounting practices (Zietlow, 1989). However, there have also been a numberof case-studies of the development and operation of accounting practices within a given

church or religious community which illustrate that calculative techniques were not foreign tosuch organisations (Swanson and Gardner, 1986, 1988) and, in some instances, they werehighly developed (Duncan, Flesher & Stocks, 1999).

Flesher and Flesher (1979) presented a study of the Harmony Society, a communisticreligious community on the Indiana frontier (1814-1824). They suggested that the accounting

practices of the Harmonists were highly sophisticated as a result of the substantial retailingand manufacturing operations of the Society. According to Flesher and Flesher (1979, p. 298)

the Harmonists maintained a detailed management accounting system which tracked theperformance of the different productive units and the production and consumption ofindividual members of the community. While the system developed by the Harmonists was

particularly advanced, detailed accounting systems were not untypical amongst the communesduring the 1800s. Kreiser and Dare (1986) studied the accounting practices of the Shaker

community at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, and found that the records kept were detailed andmeticulous, though they were not characterised by technical innovation.

Laughlin (1988) offers more than a purely descriptive analysis in his study of the accountingsystems of the Church of England. While he showed that accounting did play an important

role in the life of the church, Laughlin claimed that accounting and budgeting was irrelevantto the ongoing life of the parish (p. 23) and was an unhealthy intrusion (p 23) to spiritualvalues. Utilising Durkheim, Laughlin (1988) argued that accounting practices were associated

with the profane or secular as opposed to the sacred. In the Church of England considerable

effort was taken to keep the secular aspects of accounting separate from, and subservient to,the sacred centres and activities of the Church. Booth (1993) explored similar themes in his


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study of the Australian Uniting Church. His work reinforced the distinction between thesacred activity of the Church and the secular functions of accounting and administration

which were performed by its organisation.

However, this sacred-secular distinction is not fully supported by other literature on the

development and role of accounting in religious organisations and communities. In anextension of Kreiser and Dares study of the Shakers in Pleasant Hill, Faircloth (1988) has

suggested that there was a significant blurring between the sacred and the secular in that:

The spiritual importance they [the Shakers] attached to these affairs elevated

accounting procedures to a means of generating and maintaining consecrated property(Faircloth, 1988, pp. 99).

It seems evident that the Shakers regarded good accounting practice as more than a secular

concern with maintaining the physical viability of the community. It was also a spiritualconcern. Faircloth (1988) suggests that temporal transactions were perceived by the Shakers

as a gospel requirement (p. 127). Based on this work Booth (1993, p. 41) noted that

accounting can be highly prominent within churches and meet little apparent resistance fromthe spiritual basis of belief, yet he dismissed this conclusion on the basis that the Shakers and

the Harmony Society were very concerned with business activities and they stressedefficiency and economy as virtues. However, Booth does not offer a convincing case for

why, in these historical studies, the sacred values of the community were not threatened bythe secular aspect of accounting and how the accounting practices served to support andreinforce the mission and operation of the communities.

An exception to the historic case studies is the work of Duncan, Flesher and Stocks (1999).They conducted questionnaire survey into the use of internal control and accounting practices

of 1,200 US churches across three denominations. Although they do not specifically address

the sacred / secular theme, they do make an important contribution to the debate bysuggesting that the church size and denomination is a significant factor in explaining theapplication of internal controls.

In this paper we explore the relationship between accounting and the religious practices of acontemporary Christian community. By focusing on accounting and accountability in the

daily life of the members of the Iona Community and by also examining accounting in thisvoluntary organisation, we will deconstruct the sacred-secular distinction and illustrate how,in this case, accounting is as much a part of the sacred as of the secular, and thereby illustrate

the arbitrariness of these analytical categories.

Forms of accountability in the Iona Community are discussed in the second half of this paperand here the work of Miller and OLeary (1987), Miller (1992) and Roberts (1996) is

pertinent. These authors show the importance of accounting technologies in creating

individual identity, or forming the self, while Llewellyn (1994) touches on the idea thataccounting acts as a tool of collective identity by defining organisational boundaries and

delineating the distinction between the member and the non-member. We concur with Munroand Mouritson (1996) that accountability should be understood as a broad concept, one thatextends beyond formal accounts to embrace concepts of how individuals give account of and

for their daily lives and in doing so producing and reproducing their individual and collectiveidentities.


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It is long been recognised that accountability is a contradictory and indeed contrary concept(see Roberts, 1991). Sinclair (1995, p. 231) describes accountability as chameleon-like,

multiple, fragmented and subject to continual reconstruction. Roberts (1991, 1996) d ividesthe concept between an individualising and a socialising form and associates the former with

what Habermas calls purposive rational action or work. He associates the socialising form

with communicative action or interaction. Roberts (1991) relates the individualising formof accountability to Foucaults notions of disciplinary power and argues that it is maintained

by the formal structures of organisations, of which accounting practices are a prime example.He also suggests (Roberts, 1996) that this individualising form of accountability can be

destructive in its constructing the self as an atomised individual and obscuring theinterdependent nature of organisational life. It is this individualising aspect of accountability,linked to the formal organisational structures, which has generally been focused on in the

accounting literature.

The socialising aspect to accountability has remained relatively unexplored. This is becausethe organisational context is inevitability a commercially orientated business structure, the

embodiment of the purposive rational action. In order to examine broader aspects ofaccountability, it is necessary to investigate different kinds of organisational settings (Robertsand Scapens, 1985). The Iona Community offers a very different organisational setting. It is

almost an ideal-type of voluntary organisation, characterised by symbolic action "orientated toachieving understanding" (Roberts, 1991, p. 360). Aspects of accountability which areseparate from an orientation towards control are likely to be evident in such an organisation.

If a role for accounting practices within a socialising accountability are to be found, it oughtto be evident in the case of the Iona Community.

This study represents the preliminary findings from a series of unstructured andsemistructured field interviews conducted with the leaders and members of the Iona

Community. The research involved participation/observation at gatherings of the Community,investigating relevant archives and studying published and unpublished sources relating to theCommunity. Manuscript records on the Iona Community are held by the National Library of

Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and by the Community itself. The methodologyemployed in this study combines both an interpretative research approach (Chua, 1986) and

historical analysis. The paper begins by relating the founding and nature of the IonaCommunity.

THE IONA COMMUNITY

In its most recent annual report, the Iona Community describes itself thus:

The Iona Community is an ecumenical Christian community, founded in 1938 by the

late George MacLeod of Fuinary. Gathered around the rebuilding of the ancientmonastic buildings of Iona Abbey, the Community has sought ever since the

rebuilding of the common life, bringing together work and worship, prayer andpolitics, the sacred and the secular . . . The members, from many backgrounds,countries and denominations, are committed to a rule of daily prayer and Bible study,

sharing and accounting for their use of time and money; regular meetings, and actionfor justice and peace (1998).

Iona is a small island off the Ross of Mull, on the west coast of Scotland. It is most closelyassociated with St Columba, who in 563 arrived from Ireland and founded a monastery there.


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This monastic community was, for several centuries, the most important religious centre innorthern and western Britain. Iona monastery was a seat of learning, the source of leadership

in the early Scottish church and a base from which attempts were made to convert the Picts toChristianity. The community on Iona was destroyed by Vikings during the 9th century. During

the medieval age an Abbey was erected on the site of the original monastic settlement which,

despite a number of restorations, was to remain in a state of disrepair into the early twentiethcentury. In 1899 the Abbey Church was gifted by the Duke of Argyll to the Church of

Scotland on the understanding that the Abbey would be restored and made available forworship by all Christian denominations.

In the summer of 1938 a group of Church of Scotland Ministers and craftsmen arrived on Ionato rebuild the Abbey and its outbuildings. They were led by Reverend Dr George MacLeod,

Minister of Govan Old Parish Church, Glasgow. MacLeods venture was borne of hisobservation during the 1930s that the Church was distant from the concerns of the

unemployed and poor in his parish (Morton, 1957, pp 4-5; Ferguson, 1988, pp. 55-59). Heconsidered that The real sickness is that the spiritual has become divorced from the common

life of men and got boxed up in the Sunday (Rebuilding the Common Life, 1988). MacLeodsought ways of reviving faith by illustrating the relevance of the Christian message to theeveryday experience of the urban working (and other) classes. He considered that it was

necessary to rediscover the totality of Christian living through collectiveness, co-operation,and a spiritual fellowship engendered by the pursuit of a common life and task (ibid.)

As an experiment in corporate living MacLeod gathered together a group of ministers andartisans in the common life and task of rebuilding the Abbey and surrounding buildings onIona. He envisaged that through this shared experience with working men, the clergymen

would be better equipped for practising the ministry in the cities of Scotland (Ferguson, 1988,p. 60). In 1944 he declared that:

The Iona Community is a body of men within the Church of Scotland, married andunmarried, clerical and lay, brought together by their common instinct- that the special

challenge of the twentieth century to the Church is that she declare again the centralityof the Faith to life in all its aspects (p. 138).

The rebuilding of the Abbey was completed in 1967, and although the Iona Community hasperformed much work on the Scottish mainland, the island has remained the focal point for

the inspiration and renewal of its members. In 1951 the Iona Community became moreclosely associated with the Church of Scotland but retained control of its own policy and

finances (Ferguson, 1988, p. 90; Morton, 1977, p. 81). In addition to the pursuit of its spiritualcauses and the ecumenical movement, the Community has a long history of political activity.It has campaigned on the issues of poverty, unemployment, welfare reform, nuclear

disarmament, racism, and the immigration and nationality laws (Shanks, 1999, pp 166-79).

The Iona Community is a registered charity and a limited company with administrativeheadquarters in Govan, Glasgow. The Community has three other principal centres. The(restored) Abbey and MacLeod Centre are both sited on Iona and offer visitors an opportunity

to share in the common life through Christian worship, work and relaxation (The IonaCommunity, leaflet). The Camas Centre on Mull is an adventure camp for young people. In

the year ended 31 December 1998 the total income of the Community was 1.3m. One half of

this was derived from sales (of goods in the Abbey Shop and Community publications(produced by its own publishing house, Wild Goose Publications)). A further 23% of income


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was earned from board and lodgings at the island centres, 11% from donations, 6% fromgrants and fundraising and 10% from a variety of other sources. The Community, which seeks

to apply its resources wisely and effectively in the implementation of our vision, had netassets of 2.3m at 31 December 1998 (Annual Report, 1998).

There are three levels of commitment to the Iona Community. Friends of the Communitymake an annual donation to the Community and support its work but are not required to keep

its Rule. Associate Members participate by offering an annual donation, by keeping theCommunitys rule concerning prayer and Bible study. Associates mayalso keep an economic

discipline by giving 2% of their disposable income to the common fund of the Community.They should also attend regional meetings of Associates. Full members, are former Associatesof two years standing who have attended an informal interview with the Leader of the

Community and another member and who have been admitted to, and successfully completed,a two-year New Members Programme. In 1998 the Community comprised 225 Members,

more than 1500 Associate Members and 1700 Friends (Annual Report, 1998). Full Members,who are committed to the Rule of the Community, are drawn from a variety of occupations

though just under one half are ministers (Shanks, 1999, pp. 60-62).

The Members meet at three plenary gatherings per annum and at a Community Week on Iona

during the summer. More regular meetings take place in local/regional Family Groups. Theyearbook and directory of the Community, Miles Christi 1999 lists twenty-eight FamilyGroups of which nineteen are in Scotland and nine are in England. Family Groups are

expected to convene at least six times per annum. Their role is defined as one of friendship,support, accountability and consultation (Role and Shape of Family Groups). The FamilyGroup is led by a convenor. Issues such as the attendance of Associates at Family Group

meetings and the size of the group are largely at the discretion of the group itself. In relationto the latter issue, members are requested to give due consideration to the value of small

groups, to the requirement of accountability (best done in twos or threes), and to theimportance of flexibility to meet changing needs (ibid.).

THE RULE OF THE IONA COMMUNITY

The defining characteristic of the Iona Community is the adherence by its members to acommon rule or discipline. The current Leader of the Community has written that:

individual commitment to the Rule is the bedrock of the Communitys work andwhole existence; it is the ultimate embodiment and expression of our vision and

understanding of spirituality; it is in and through this that we seek to support,encourage and challenge one another (Shanks, 1999, p. 65).

This section of the paper explores the emergence and current content of the Rule.

As conceived in 1938 the Iona Community was a group of young ministers and craftsmenwho gathered to explore a new form of Christian living through the rebuilding of Iona Abbey.However, the experience of living the common life on Iona, was a temporary state given the

seasonal nature of the work and the intention that ministers would only remain on the islandfor two years (Morton, 1977, p. 38). This implied a transience which was not conducive to

enduring fellowship and community:


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In the first summer on Iona the pattern had been obvious and simple: the corporatediscipline of living together in one room, of common work and shared chores, of

worship twice a day, of 50 a year all found. But this lasted only for the summer.When they scattered at the end of the summer this discipline stopped. What was to

take its place? (Morton, 1977, p. 40).

In 1939 it was decided to formulate a concept of membership founded on a common

discipline. This discipline could be adhered to wherever the individual was resident onleaving the island of Iona and returning to the mainland:

As new members went out to work in the mission field of urban Scotland, theCommunity was compelled to ask what it was that bound members to each other. Out

of these discussions emerged the beginnings of a Rule of Life for the Iona Community(Ferguson, 1988, p. 73).

The content of the resultant Rule of the Community was largely conditioned by the

experiences of those who arrived on Iona in 1938: Inevitably there was a rule from thebeginning. But it was not stated. It was part of the business of living together, of dailyworship, of regular hours of work, of common economic problems (Morton, 1957, p. 9). The

Rule was substantially drafted by George MacLeod and embodied his demand for a pattern ofdaily living which did not divorce the spiritual from the material (Morton, 1977, p. 40).However, drafting the rule was far from simple and straight forward. The elements of the rule

were successively tried, abandoned, reshaped and affirmed in the light of experience(Fraser, 1990, p.11). One long-time community member described the process as like acraftsman with a bit of wood, who shapes it, who finds it is not quite right and comes back

and takes a bit more off.

For MacLeod the development and codification of a rule was part of a new obedience whichwas essential to reinforcing the collective character of the Iona Community and to advancingthe movement. He argued that we must get into ranks if we are to march with resolution.

Disciple-ship demands discipline (MacLeod, 1944, p. 125). This new obedience wasgenerally welcomed by the community members. However, the regimentation implicit in

following a rule and the militaristic style in which this was pursued by George MacLeod didnot always find favour during the 1940s:

. . and of course there were commitments, which at that time were very, verypowerful. I don't know whether anyone of your years can think oneself into what it

was like after World War II, I'm talking about the late 40's and early 50's and thisidealism had caught teenagers like myself. We were going to build a better world, wewere going to work for peace. But George was, he had a military background from

World War I, and I think he tried to run the community like a boot-camp. (Iona 1,Community Member).

As originally codified the Rule comprised three disciplines which related to prayer and biblereading, the use of time and the use of money. The first of these imposed a devotional

discipline. Members were obliged to devote half an hour each morning (originally fixed at7.30 to 8.00) to prayer and Bible reading. The object was to reaffirm the relevance of the

Christian message to daily life and the fact of Christian Holiness (MacLeod, 1944). A prayer

report card was introduced later whereby, on a monthly basis, each member disclosed to theLeader whether he had succeeded or failed in keeping this rule (Morton, 1957, p. 10).


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The discipline relating to the use of time derived from the experiences of the ministers and

artisans who commenced the rebuilding of Iona Abbey:

This obligation grew out of discussions on the abbey walls between ministers and

craftsmen. The masons taunted the ministers with working only on Sundays.Oh no, retorted Gods anointed, we work eighteen hours a day.

When you go back to your parishes, said the craftsmen, take a note of how longyou actually work, and dont include things like reading the newspaper, and lying in

bed pretending you are meditating.The ministers had to concede that, unlike the workmen, they didnt have to clock inand out, and were accountable to no boss: this could easily lead to self-delusion and

indulgence . . . What was need was accountability in the proper use of time (Ferguson,1988, p. 73).

It was also recognised that although the nature of their work differed substantially, the

community ideal would be enhanced if ministers and craftsmen laboured for the same time(Morton, 1957, p. 10). The common use of time was monitored by the requirement thatministers would plot their eight hours of work each morning and evaluate its achievement at

night (Coracle, March 1943, p. 5). For George MacLeod recording and monitoring the use oftime also served to assist in seeing all our work in the light of eternal things (1944). Thisreasoning was later refined to encompass the importance of using ones time to ensure a

balance between work and fulfilling the wider responsibilities to the Church and theCommunity (Morton, 1951, p. 24).

As with the other disciplines, the requirement to monitor the use of money and the attendantneed to control personal finances served to cement the corporate nature of the Community.

Concern for the use of money was rooted in the Christian obligation of stewardship:

The economic discipline exists as a recognition of the fact that all we have is a gift ofGod and we have to use it as stewards, making modest claims upon resources in a

world in which so many are deprived (Fraser, 1990, p. 12).

In its holistic approach to spirituality the Community reaffirmed the importance of biblicalteachings on economics. These, it was considered, had been relegated by the Churches(Morton, 1957, p. 11). For the founders of the Iona Community this was alien to the notion of

Christian fellowship, to mutual economic responsibility and served to prevent a fullunderstanding of the basis of modern social life (Morton, 1951, p. 29). Thus the rule was

devised to express the economic inter-dependence on which any Christian life must be built(Morton, 1951, p. 120). Initially, this was actualised through a requirement that the membersof the Community would live on the national average income and that they would contribute a

proportion of their income to the Community. The latter would be applied for the relief ofmembers in difficulty and for other purposes determined by the group. Corporate

responsibility for spending money would thereby be engendered (Morton, 1951, p. 120). Asthe membership of the Community increased and became more geographically dispersed andheterogeneous, the importance of the Rule for binding the Community through a common

commitment increased (Shanks, 1999, p. 58). As the community became less directlyfocused on a physical locating and a particular work, in this case the Island of Iona and the

rebuilding of the Abby, the rule, and the associated accountabilities, became a key factor in

defining and re-inforcing membership by creating the distinction between those who were andthose who were-not full members.


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The rule of the Iona Community has been subject to constant scrutiny and discussion. It is

not static (Morton, 1957, p. 9). Indeed, by the 1940s its details had been altered several timesas members scrutinised its working and met to give accounts of its observance in united

session (Coracle, March 1943, p. 5; January 1947, p. 37). For example, the keeping of the

devotional discipline at a specified time of day proved difficult. As one Member observed:

You were expected to train and read the bible every day, and I think it was at thatpoint that we were telling George MacLeod, who was the Information Officer, founder

and leader of the community, that not everybody could fit in to that kind of straitjacketand some of us would much rather read a whole book of the bible at a two or threehour sitting and meditate on that, rather than do this half hour slot (Iona 1, Community

Member).

The Leader of the Community himself admitted in October 1951 that: he could not keep thehalf-hour in the morning, but was learning to keep part of it-his intercessions-when engaged

in domestic duties, and part of it-his Bible reading-when travelling (Coracle, December1951, pp. 1-3).The current manifestation of the Rule of the Iona Community comprises the original three

disciplines plus two recent additions. This five-fold rule, which has existed for three decades,encompasses the following elements:

1. Daily Prayer and Bible-reading2. Sharing and accounting for the use of our money3. Sharing and accounting for the use of our time

4. Action for Justice and Peace in society5. Meeting with and accounting to each other

(Miles Christi, 1999, p. 22).

Parts two, three and five of the Rule thus contain explicit provisions on accounting and

accountability. The next part of this paper explores how these forms of accountingdeveloped, particularly focusing on the origin and development of the economic discipline.

ACCOUNTING AND THE ECONOMIC DICIPLINE

Record keeping has long featured as an important activity in the practice of the Rule of theIona Community. As the following proforma from the 1940s reveals, the members record of

adhering to the devotional discipline was inscribed on a monthly report card. The completedcard was forwarded to the Leader of the Community.

THE RULE OF MINISTER ASSOCIATESM.A. [name] REPORT CARD January

My intention is to keep the half hour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (must be before 12 noon)

.-Indicates success. X. Indicates failure.S. Indicates half-hour successfully kept; but at another time due to interruption by a call of Christian service.

D.O. Indicates Day off when half-hour has been kept at another time.

My intention is to send in this card at end of month regardless of the extent of failure.


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1. Sat.. 17. M

3. M 18. Tu...4. Tu... 19. W....

5. W 20. Th...6. Th... 21. F.

7. F 22. Sat...

Source: MacLeod, 1944, p. 134.

During the 1940s, the accounting which attended adherence to the discipline concerning the

use of time by plotting ones day and reviewing the achievement of ones objectives, wasrecorded on the left hand side of the form reproduced below. The discipline of accounting for

the use of money involved detailing items of expenditure on the right hand side of this formon a daily basis.

THE RULE OF MINISTERS IN THE COMMUNITY

MILES CHRISTI

Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8 a.m. Expenditure

8 Hour Estimate Purpose Amount

Source: MacLeod, 1944, p. 133.

The recording of financial information as part of the economic witness and accounting for theuse of money has proved to be the most problematical element of the Rule. The IonaCommunity has struggled with the theological foundations of this discipline and with the

technical and practical aspects of its implementation (Morton, 1977, pp. 40-1; Ferguson,1988, p. 74).

The Iona Community determined to give effect to a form of economic witness from an earlystage (Morton, 1957, p. 11). According to Morton, Behind the Communitys concern was the

conviction that the Church had become blind to the economic teaching of the Bible and that

our life is determined much more than we like to realise by economics (ibid.). However,

identifying a form of discipline which enabled the practice of mutual economic responsibility,


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the economic interdependence of members and acceptance of the pursuit of equal access tothe fundamental requirements of life (MacLeod, 1944, p. 131), proved difficult. The

established Church offered little guidance:

The notion that Christians should actually be accountable to each other in how they

spent their money was foreign, and indeed offensive, to the Church. The Communityargued that in a world in which capitalism seemed to be accountable to no one and

caused untold damage, the Church was called upon to provide a pattern of sharingunder the sign of the lordship of Christ (Ferguson, 1988, p. 74).

At first it was considered that economic witness might be actualised by each member livingon the level of pay received by an ordinary soldier (Acc 9084/345(i)). It was not until the

arrival of Reverend Alexander (Lex) Miller as Deputy Leader of the Community in 1942(Coracle, March 1943, January 1951; Ferguson, 1990, pp. 195, 209-10), that a more rigorous

scheme of economic discipline was devised.

The National Average

Miller introduced to the Community a scheme of economic discipline founded on The

National Average. This plan was borne of the Millers experiences while secretary of theStudent Christian Movement when he and a number of other radical theology students in NewZealand observed the impact of the depression there during the 1930s (Morton, 1977, p. 41).

These theology students recognised the incompatibility of preaching Christian reconciliationto a congregation of the unemployed and destitute, while the preacher himself benefited fromthe fruits of the capitalist system (Coracle, March 1943). As an expression of commonality

and to bridge the gulf between the classes, the students determined to live according to theaverage national income. A plan for achieving this was produced by The Shadwell Group in

England during the 1940s based on its experiences in the East-End of London (Morton, 1977,p. 41). The blueprint was authored by Miller in the form of The National Average: A Study inSocial Discipline (Coracle, March 1943). The experiment of the Shadwell Group involved

members living according to the national average income (subject to allowances for spouseand children). Those whose income exceeded the national average placed their surplus into a

common fund which was to be applied to relieve members on low incomes and for causesidentified by the group as worthy (Morton, 1951, p. 118).

This concern for the urban poor was in accord with the circumstances which resulted in thefoundation of the Iona Community and, in 1943, it launched an experiment for one year to

ascertain what the National Average would feel like (Coracle, March 1943). The schemeadopted was less comprehensive than that of the Shadwell Group, particularly in the way inwhich the latter utilised personal income in excess of the national average. The Communitys

variant laid greater emphasis on corporate sharing as opposed to the pursuit of justice andequality through redistribution (ibid., 120). Members were requested to keep their personal

subsistence within The National Average (defined as 160 for a single person). Surplusincome was to be expended as the member chose provided only that he declare and openlydefend its disposal before quarterly or half-yearly meetings of the Community (MacLeod,

1944, p. 132). At these meetings members could express their view as to whether anindividuals surplus had been used in a manner which was in accord with the expression of

economic brotherhood. The member was also obliged to contribute out of his surplus to the

Community Chest. The contents of the chest would be applied to ensure that the income of


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less wealthy members of the Community and their families would be bought up to thenational average.

The practice of this form of economic discipline laid a strong emphasis on account keeping.

MacLeod commented that: we all keep our accounts which, in completion and without

embarrassment, are from time to time open to the scrutiny and criticism of all otherindividuals or families in the Community (1944, p. 132). In a report on the experimental

year with The National Average scheme it was stated that:

With one or two exceptions members of [the] Community have been careful about thekeeping of personal accounts, and it has been an immense help to have meticulousaccounts kept in several households, so that we can call on data about the working-out

of the scheme in families.

It was noted in the report that those who had failed to keep accounts comprised one or twomembers who resisted the prescriptive approach to economic witness and preferred adherence

to a general understanding to regard our money as held in stewardship (Acc 9084). Theexperimental year with the national average scheme also revealed differences of opinion onthe principles and working of the economic discipline according to whether the member of the

Community was married or unmarried. A number of complex questions emerged. Did thescheme take sufficient account of the responsibilities of the married member? Whatallowances should be made for dependants? Was expenditure on insurance or the private

education of a members children a legitimate charge against income? Should the scheme takeaccount of capital as well as a members income and expenditure? Having addressed thesecomplications the Community decided to continue with a refined version of The National

Average scheme of economic discipline.

During the mid to late 1940s the application of the economic rule became more structured anda greater emphasis was placed on bookkeeping and accountability. In 1945 it was decided thatthe application of the economic discipline would be enhanced by splitting the Community

into groups or cells of four members each. Each group would meet once every six monthsfor a full enquiry into the economic returns of its members (Acc 9084/345(i)). The Finance

Committee of the Community would provide each group with guidance on the rule, tables ofthe national average (for single persons and married couples), and instructions on how tocalculate the surplus after deducting income tax and allowances for dependants (based on

cost of living scales).

Each member of the Community was required to submit a Return Form on a six monthlybasis to his family group. This form included totals of the members salary, other receipts andbenefits in kind together with details of claims on total income in the form of tax, work

expenses and special claims such as education, insurance and the cost of dependants. Thisinformation was abstracted by each member from the detailed accounting records maintained

by him in monthly Miles Christi books, which were printed according to the proformaillustrated in the figure above. The purpose of the group meeting was to discuss the validity ofthe claims on the income of members. The Financial Comptroller of the Community offered

guidance to groups on specific types of claim such as insurance, rentals and medicine.Expenditure on furniture, for example, was claimable provided it was for essential goods. It

was advised that 75% of garden costs could be claimed. However, Claims for holidays,

domestic help, motor cars etc., should be carefully examined (ibid.).


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The procedure at family group meetings was as follows. The group Convenor discloseddetails of the claims made by each member. The claimant offered an explanation and

answered sufficient questions as to permit a full understanding the reasons for the claim. Thegroup then decided to either accept or reject the claim. The Convenor then forwarded the

Return Form to the Financial Comptroller of the Community. In 1946 the six-monthly

return was replaced by monthly cards and it was required that 10% of each memberssurplus income should be contributed to a Community Chest.

In 1945 it was acknowledged that the Economic Discipline has cost us all a great deal of

time, labour and concern (ibid.). While there were indications that adherence to thediscipline encouraged fellowship and social solidarity among members all was not well. Itwas reported in 1945 that some people are crying out about the unreality of the Rule, while

on the other hand, some laugh raucously . . . when reminded of their failure even to meet fordiscussion. The latter behaviour was deemed a confession of the irrelevance of the

Incarnation to our Pocket-book. In response to this it was necessary to reiterate thetheological foundation of personal account-keeping. Spending five minutes a day keeping

accounts and half an hour at the end of the month completing monthly abstracts of incomeand expenditure was important because:

Our need is not to reduce our examination of accounts to an occasional episode, but tobring ourselves to such an examination of our finances as will help us to realise howwe fail to conform to the Mind of Christ in our stewardship of money (ibid.).

A Report on Economic Discipline 1945/46, prepared in June 1946 confirmed the limitedadherence of members to this aspect of the Rule of the Community. It was noted that although

thirty-two individuals were connected with the economic discipline, only seven members(who, in total, could not boast surplus income) were fully engaged with it. Further, only three

of the eight family groups had met to discuss the annual returns of their members and nocontributions had been received to the Community Chest. This disappointing state of affairsincited the Leader of the Community to formulate a proposal to instil a firmer commitment to

the economic discipline and its attendant accounting:

We all agree that daily account-keeping is the only possible basis of any concern aboutour money, and so we undertake to keep Miles Christi. At the end of the month wesend in a note of our Income and Expenditure, and examine it in groups at the end of

each year, as at present. If our accounts are complete and reliable, we undertake to putone tenth of our Surplus Income into the Chest. Those whose accounts are not

complete undertake to contribute to the Chest at the same rate (in proportion toincome) as those who do contribute by the one-tenth system. The Chest would bedisbursed as the Community decides.

By the late 1940s it was recognised that perfecting the economic discipline posed a

considerable challenge to the Community (Coracle, January 1947). However, this wasmatched by a renewed determination to refine the application of the rule given its centrality tothe Communitys vision of an inclusive Christian obedience, the interrelationship between the

spiritual and material and its importance to encouraging fellowship and corporateenlightenment among members (ibid.). It was later commented that No subject has been

more hotly and more lengthily discussed in the common room of Community House, Iona,

than the question of the economic discipline, because we have always known that unless wedo something here we fail on all fronts (Coracle, January 1951). The theological foundation


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for the economic discipline was also subject to rigorous study by an Economic Commission in1947 (also Coracle, December 1949). The upshot was the formulation of a revised scheme

for economic witness which was not based on The National Average.

An Income Tax based System

The new scheme, which was printed in The Coracle at the end of 1949, utilised the income

tax returns of members as opposed to abstracts of daily accounting records. It involved thecalculation of disposable income. The latter was defined as income less allowances, rents and

tax paid. Members were required to contribute 5% of disposable income to a Common Fundas their economic commitment to the Community. This figure represented half of thetraditional proposed level of Christian giving and it was assumed that members would give

another 5% to the Church or a charity. The Common Fund was to be applied according to thewishes of the members. It was considered that discussions on the use of the common fund

raises questions about our use of the remaining 95% [of disposable income] and it is there thatour real economic witness lies (Morton, 1957, p. 11). This method of calculating disposable

income found favour because of its simplicity and objectivity, and because it was consideredprogressive in that those on higher incomes contributed more to the common pool (Morton,1953).

An example of the calculation of the economic commitment is provided below.

A married man with two children Income 400.0.0

Allowances:-

National Insurance 10.0.0Allowance for Wife 70.0.0

Allowance for Children 120.0.0Rent 40.0.0Tax paid 1.0.0

Total to be deducted 241.0.0

Residue after deduction 159.0.0======

Upon this residue 5 per cent. should be calculated

5 per cent. of 159 7.19.0 ======

(Source: Coracle, December 1949)

Following an experimental year in 1950-51, the Iona Community decided to adopt thisincome tax-based scheme as its economic discipline. A similar scheme for Associates of theCommunity was also devised whereby a commitment of 2.5% of disposable income was

lodged in an Associates Common Fund (Coracle, January 1951, April 1951). It should benoted that the system based on income tax returns was not popular with all members of the

Iona Community. More radical adherents complained of its superficial and tokenist character.

The use of tax data was deemed akin to linking ourselves to the values of the ConservativeParty. It was also objected that the key aspect of economic witness was not the calculation of


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a 5% donation but the manner in which each individual spent his remaining surplus or freeincome.

Indeed the emphasis in the economic discipline on calculating a contribution to the common

pool akin to a charitable fund raised concerns that the essential purpose of the rule was being

dissipated. In May 1953 a report on the working of the discipline noted that we are in dangerof regarding the scheme merely as a means for financing various projects and of forgetting

that its main purpose is to promote our corporate and individual economic discipline. Theneed to understand the economic discipline as more than an exercise in Christian generosity

was also reasserted during the 1960s (Iona News, January 1964).

By contrast with the discipline based on The National Average during the 1940s,

compliance with the income tax based-scheme was strong among the membership. It wasreported during the 1950s that the great majority of members complied with its requirements

and that only a few have done nothing. Non or limited participation of some membersduring the 1960s was attributed to general slackness on the part of a few members, a natural

reluctance to part with ones money among others, difficulty in understanding the scheme, orinability to contribute the 5% due to low income.

The Economic Discipline at Present

The contemporary manifestation of the economic discipline is substantially based on the

scheme implemented during the 1950s and the related accounting is principally conductedthrough the family groups. Each member contributes 1% of his/her contribution to thecommunity to his/her family group, which applies it according to its own priorities. Each

group appoints its own Treasurer and maintains its own bank account (Papers of the IonaCommunity). The 5% contribution of each member to the Community has been reduced to

4% and the remaining 6% of the traditional 10% tithe is applied to the Church or otherorganisations. It is provided that the tithe is utilised as follows:

i. To the wider work of the Church, and to bodies concerned with promoting justice andpeace, world development, etc 6%

ii. To the work of the Iona Community (The Community Fund) 2%iii. To purposes decided by the Family Group 1%iv. To purposes decided by the Common Fund Trustees on behalf of the Community

0.5%v. To the Travel Pool 0.5% (Miles Christi, 1999).

Accounting for the economic discipline continues to be the subject of periodic review in theIona Community. In November 1997, following concerns about the adequacy of funds raised

from members and the need to offer more guidance on the calculation of contributions, theCouncil of the Community instigated an investigation into various aspects of the economic

discipline. The remit included how Family Groups approached accounting, the identificationof good practice, and the calculation of disposable income from which the contribution ofeach member was determined (Papers of the Iona Community). The results of this review

were discussed by the Council in June 1998 and resulted in a number of recommendations.These formed the blueprint for the current arrangements concerning accounting for the

economic discipline.


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The review emphasised that All family groups should make it a first priority to make timefor accounting (ibid). Given the diverse economic and social circumstances of the

membership, it was also deemed important to allow sufficienttime for accounting. Unhurrieddiscussion was considered a precondition for the creation of that trust within the group which

was necessary to encourage a process of open and honest sharing, irrespective of income. It

was also recommended that family groups should fix a date by which the financialaccounting should be completed and that the completion by each member of an Economic

Discipline Form would provide a focus for discussions within the family group of the claimson income which had been advanced by the member. The review also recommended that the

process should be better attuned to the circumstances of members on low incomes for whom a10% commitment represented a significant use of resources relative to those with greaterincome and wealth. It was also recognised that the practice of economic discipline needed to

be flexible enough to accommodate changes in the structure of the modern family. Forinstance, in a dual earning household where only one spouse is a member of the Community,

should personal or household income form the basis of the calculation? Such complexitieshave resulted in a greater emphasis on flexibility and for detailed accounting to be performed

within the more intimate forum of the family group. The forms distributed to members asguidance on practising the economic discipline stress that discussion within the familygroups is vital to the accounting process and the recognition of each individuals

circumstances as unique is essential.

The procedures instituted to facilitate each individuals accounting is a matter to be

determined by each family group. However, the Community has provided a model economicdiscipline form for guidance . This form contains tables for the calculation of disposableincome and the 4% commitment to the Iona Community; the disclosure of other gifts

representing the 6% contribution to the Church or charitable causes; and, details of how themember spends his/her disposable income.

Total disposable income is calculated as net salary plus other income less the individualmembers base-line commitments. Other income includes benefits in kind, pensions, interest

received, dividends received, gifts, legacies, insurance policies matured etc). Base-linecommitments, which are individually disclosed and discussed with family group members,

may be family expenses, mortgage repayments, rents, council tax, student fees, loanrepayments, insurance premiums, cost of utilities, travel expenses, food, reasonable personalexpenses etc). Interview evidence reveals that the question of what constituted a members

base-line commitment is substantially a matter of judgement and one which provokes muchdiscussion in the family groups. This is particularly the case in relation to items such as

moving to a larger house or the payment of private school fees. However, more importantthan the purposive-rational determination of what is a legitimate base-line commitment wasthe socialising process of meeting to discuss the issue and of accounting to one another:

So I worked out what my income would be over the year. And from that I deductedthe mortgage, house insurance, council tax. You cant avoid paying them and youhave got to pay the house insurance. Everything else like content insurance, you dont

necessarily have to pay. It doesnt really matter exactly what you add or you dont.But actually having to sit down and have to account for it. And the fact that your are

sharing what you doing means that you done just do it blindly. And I think that really

is the important thing (Iona 4, Group Convenor).


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We used to have this running jokewhen we did the economic accountability aboutpiano lessons for the children, that all the children did piano lessons, and we had

this annual [discussion]. is it a base line is it whatever. The family group wereactually very helpful, and it keeps coming back up. There go the *** and their piano

lessons (Iona 11, Group Convenors).

As mentioned above, members are also obliged to itemise their other givings which iscalculated as a further 6% of total disposable income. This aspect of the Rule provoked one

member of the Community to keep a full account of how she used all of her money. This wasconsidered necessary in order to identify whether she was complying with the 6% obligation:

I had great problems the first year I was a new member and [this] had to do with the6% giving. The first year I did it, I ended up with less so that was obviously

something I had to deal with. Last year and this year I started off at the top with howmuch I allocated to that (free donations) and I record it as I make each payment. It is

so that I know that I have paid that amount of money. It is just to show that I haveallocated what I said I would do. However, in a way, this sort of thing is prettystraightforward. It is the other 90%, the rest of the money. Partially, this is because I

am not quite certain where all of the money goes. But also there is a discipline indoing this every day, and sometimes I dont do it every day, and I think, whats the

psychological problem why I didnt write it down. And it is just to see what you

spend on various things (Iona 4, Community Member).

The issue of accounting for the 90% of disposable income remaining once the tithe has been

calculated has long been an issue in the Iona Community. It is now suggested that as aseparate exercise, members might produce an accounting of their Total Expenditure of Gross

Income. These are to form the basis of a discussion within family groups about how themembers use their disposable income. In this venture members are reminded that In the past,the rule stated that Community members must account for all the money they kept for

themselves and family over and above the average national wage. If we all worked at this,perhaps there would be more to give away. The proforma account is reproduced below:

TOTAL EXPENDITURE OF GROSS INCOME(to help with your discussion of the 90%)

You may require a larger sheet!

ITEM

Givings

Household expenditure .

Utilities..

Pensions, insurances .

Food

PERCENTAGE

10%

AMOUNT

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

TOTAL 100% ...

(Source: Economic Discipline Form, Papers of the Iona Community).


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Once the family group has undertaken an accounting of the economic discipline of each of itsmembers, the member is obliged to complete an Economic Discipline Form. This details the

amount of the financial commitment of the member to the travel pool, common fund andcommunity fund. Together with cheques and a completed with us card, the economic

discipline form is forwarded to the Leader of the Community. The member is also requested

to write to the Leader giving a short personal assessment of how they are keeping the Rule.

The next section of the paper explores how the forms of accounting and accountabilityprescribed in the Rule of the Iona Community have been, and continue to be, operationalised

and the issues which have emerged from their working.

FORMS OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE IONA COMMUNITY

In his recent book the Leader of the Community has asserted that it is the rule about the use ofmoney where the accountability works best, but even here there is considerable range of

experience, and the difficulties that arise are not to be under-estimated whether they areproblems that arise from dynamics or relationships within the group, or more practical issuesabout the detailed calculations, for example, what is included and excluded; what account is

taken of the situation of an earning partner who is not a Member (Shanks, 1999, p. 67).

The whole question of an economic accountability has been both a challenging and a difficult

issue for the Iona Community. It is confronted with a dynamic tension between overly strict,onerous and intrusive accounting practices and a set of lax and generally unchallengingguidelines. Both historically and in contemporary practice the accountabilities associated with

the Rule are facilitated by various forms of accounting which, in the words of Roberts andScapens (1985), make possible and perpetuate the particular systems of accountability. It is

interesting to note, however, that as the Rule of the Community has evolved there has been ashift away from formalised systems of accounting and a greater focus on systems ofaccountability. This has been associated with a move away from an individualising

accountability focused on how a member uses her/his time and income, towards a moresocialised form of accountability, which prioritises accounting for the use of money to fellow

family group members.

The next section explores the idea, prevalent in the Iona Community, of an integrated

spirituality and the its implications for the accountabilities of the organisation and itsmembers.

Balancing the Organisation and the Movement

Members of the Iona Community are encouraged to explore the Rule, to contemplate itswholeness, its dynamic character and its importance to binding the Community. The five

components of the Rule are not considered to be discrete since the Community has alwaysmaintained that there is no division between prayer and politics, work and worship, sacredand secular. A holistic approach is considered fundamental to our movement (Rebuilding

Our Common Life).

In 1989 the Iona Community composed a Strategic Plan for the 1990s (Annual Report, 1989).

This identified six areas of concern: Christian inter-communion; inter-faith and racism;justice, peace and the integrity of creation; the poor and exploited; young people; and,


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seeking to rediscover spirituality (p. 3). The latter is the focus of a book by the Leader of theCommunity entitled Iona-Gods Energy. The Vision and Spirituality of the Iona Community

(Shanks, 1999). The contemporary articulation of integrated spirituality is important tounderstanding the nature of accountability as practised in the Iona Community.

According to the Leader of the Community spirituality is not something that is abstract ordetached from the everyday realities of life, the range of human situations and experiences to

which it is related (Shanks, p. 6). This holistic notion of an integrated spirituality suggests noseparation of the material from the ethereal or the detachment of the sacred from the secular.

Rather these arenas are connected through daily living. Integrated spirituality undergirds theactivities of the Community (ibid., p. 43) and is pervasive in the Iona Community as both anorganisationand a movement(p. 50).

While the pervasive theme of integrated spirituality results in common forms of

accountability within the community as both an organisation and as a movement, there arealso some differences. The increasing size of the Iona Community and the attendant growth in

its bureaucracy have introduced structures for organisational accountability which are difficultto accommodate within the original notion of community. There is however an overarchingform of communal of accountability which infuses the Iona Community as both organisation

and movement.

Individualising Accountability managing the organisation

Adherence to the founding ideals of inclusivity, integration, participation and communicationhas become more challenging as the membership and scope of the Iona Community has

expanded. The primary decision making body in earlier times was the membership in plenarysession. Most managerial decisions are now taken either by the Leader of the Community, a

council, or committees with responsibilities in relation to mainland work, island activities,finance and staffing, and publications. These set policy, subject to the consent of theCommunity in plenary session. The Community currently engages 50 individuals on staff

contracts (Shanks, 1999), these are accountable for the detailed day-to-day decisions (p.49). Within this organisation it becomes more difficult for individual Members to own

responsibility for corporate decisions (1999, p. 48).

In the context of the advancing scale of the Community there is a fear that the attendant need

to enhance the processes of organisational accountability may emasculate notions ofcommunity: With the increase in scale and the need for consistency and accountability it is

true that there may be a danger of creating or being absorbed almost unwittingly into a worldof bureaucracy (ibid., p. 51). In effect, that work or purposive rational action wouldovercome the identity forming, membership creating aspects of the socialising mutual

accountabilities. The difficulties of adhering to the concept of community within theorganisational structures of the Community and the importance of accountability in this

context has been alluded to by the Leader:

continuing attention has to be given to the importance of effective communication

lest there be any sense, on the part of individual Members, of being out of touch withwhat is going on and with decisions taken. Clearly there must be a high degree of

mutual trust and the Communitys commitment to accountability is fundamental

(1999, p. 50).


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it is necessary to ensure that the communication of information is effective not onlyto keeping the organisation running as smoothly as possible but also as an expression

of mutual respect, common ownership and accountability (1999, p. 101).

The changing shape of the Community itself creates challenges too of an internal

nature. With increasing numbers of Members and Associates, across a widegeographical spread, how do we retain our sense of belonging together? There is less

intimacy and inevitability members feel that they do not know one another as well asmay have been possible previously maintaining our sense of ownership of the work

done on the Communitys behalf becomes more difficult as movement andorganisation grow; means need to be found of ensuring that the system ofaccountability continues to work satisfactorily, that the sense of mutual trust is

sustained and nourished, that information about what is happening or proposed iscommunicated swiftly and effectively (p. 217).

These comments illustrate the danger that the growth in the organisation will lead to a

breakdown of both community and identity. Individual members of the Community areconscious of the tension between the community as movement and as organisation. Oneinterviewee observed that:

In many ways it has changed because its been a victim of its apparent success on theisland. As a result of that growth in the number of people wanting to use that facility

and so on, weve had to move towards a parallel board like structure, just simply tohandle the business, I mean the most structural thing as Iona Community plc, whichseems to me ridiculous (Iona 7: Community Member).

In the individual practices of accountability the tension between the organisation and the

movement, between a socialialising and an individualising accountability was clearly evident.As the leadership sought to clarify the basis of the economic discipline by preparing forms ofaccount, some of the family groups chose not to comply with the centrally prescribed

arrangements, while still maintaining a process of group orientated socialising accountability:

Well, I am a convenor of a group, and we decided that we would carry on doing whatwe were before the form came out. Obviously each group has differences on how theyview the economic discipline. And we found that because we had such a variety of

people that it was quite useful just to look at the form and discuss what people did. Ihave got quite a vocal group, who have got very decided opinions on things. And I

think that we all decided that, it was best to look at everyones situation andeveryones commitments and see what money was left over. (Iona 4, GroupConvenor)

In the context of an organisation founded on the principle of community, managerial control

is difficult to achieve. The leaders task is to perform the functions of a chief executive whileat the same time pursue the mission of the Community and co-ordinate a diffuse and disparatemembership (Shanks, 1999, pp. 51, 73). The Leader becomes a focal point of accountability

in that he is accountable to the members and the members and family groups are accountableto him for their keeping of the rule.

Given that integrated spirituality embraces organisation and movement the fundamentaladherence by the Iona Community to accountability permeates both these aspects of the


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Communitys work. Communal accountability as actualised in organisation emphasises freeand frequent information flows, albeit through a hierarchical structure. This is deemed to

encourage trust among the members of a dispersed community. Mutual accountability inorganisation is also deemed to exist through the obligation on the leadership to report to the

members.

Socialising Accountability finding spirituality

Integrated spirituality is rooted in the realities of the everyday and in ones living out the

faith. It is actualised for members of the Community by adherence to the Rule: Spirituality isnot a matter of private preference but of public accountability as practised . . . according tothe Community Rule (Shanks, 1999, p. 114). Given the dispersed and heterogeneous

membership of the Community it is this shared discipline (1999, p. 64) which solidifiescommunal behaviour: It is our Rule that holds us together in the Community amid all our

diversity (Shanks, 1999, p. 65).

Accountability for adherence to the Rule is performed through the organisational hierarchywhen individual members submit an annual return/report to the Leader in which they confirmthat they remain with us. Personal accountability for adherence to the Rule is also practised

in the public arena of plenary meetings of the Community (of which there are three perannum) and at Community Week on Iona during the summer. Such periodic exercises inaccountability, are by themselves, however, not in accord with the holistic nature of

spirituality as continuous and integral to the everyday: Belonging to the Iona Communityinvolves holding one another accountable to the fivefold Rule. If accounting becomesthreatening or guilt-making, occasional or piecemeal, or limited to private contact with the

Leader, it is failing (Rebuilding Our Common Life). This process of accountability was seenas being essential to community membership. A key part of the training programme for new

members is to enable new members to explore rule and the concerns of the community(Iona Community New Members Programme, August 1990). Adherence to the rule andaccounting within the community was an essential device in constructing the boundary

between the member and the non-member, in effect, the rule and the associatedaccountabilities create the organisation. The central importance of the rule and the associated

accountabilities was a particular focus of the Community Week in 1999. Here a number ofthe participants emphasised the strong links between accountability, membership andcommunity:

Without accountability there is no community. If someone doesnt account, there

must be a sanction, ultimately throwing out.

We make certain commitments and promises. Being a member we are called to keep

these.(Community Week 1999 Papers on economic discipline, responses to discussion

points)

The primary arena for mutual accountability, of reporting ones adherence to the Rule was the

Family Group: For most people the main place of belonging together, where the spiritualityis rooted, is in the local Family Groups. This is where the mutual accounting takes place

(Shanks, 1999, p. 70). Among those interviewed for this study, the centrality of the family

group to their membership and experience of the Community was clearly apparent:


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It is the family group that has been the closest part of the community to me. I havebeen quite lucky in as much as I have been on lots of committees, convenor of council,

and stuff like that. That gives you closeness to the business of the community. Theactual being part of the community really for me is the family group and the regular

meetings and our family group . . . (Iona 5, Community Member).

Therefore, the well-being of family groups is important to facilitating the mutual

accountability process:

And the particular appeal of the Communitys Rule is the mutual accountability:keeping the Rule is not just a matter of personal obedience, between the individual andGod, as it were; the idea is that within our local Family Groups we share our

experience and account to one another (Shanks, 1999, p. 65).

Facilitating Socialising Accountability

Given the centrality of a mutual socialising accountability, the Iona Community has beenanxious to explore the conditions under which it is facilitated. Of particular importance is thecreation of a high degree of trust among the members of the group (Shanks, 1999, p. 71).

Impediments to the achievement of this include a highly transient membership in a familygroup. However, it is also recognised that the practice of accountability might be stifled in agroup which is not infused with new members. The result of a low turnover of members in a

group might be the avoidance of some of the hard questions that accounting demands (p.72). Trust is also important to facilitating the participation of group members in mutualaccounting. This was commented on by the group convenors interviewed for this study. One

convenor observed that the operation of accountability depended on the creation of a sense ofgroup coherence and commitment:

You hear of family groups where maybe 50% will turn up in any one month. I wouldsay that there would be only one couple missing on average at most meeting. For

60%-70% of the time everybody will be at family group. It may be that we areregarded as a social family group. The first thing that we organise is the Christmas

party and then the second thing is the summer outing and then after that we worryabout the world (Iona 5, Group Convenor).

Systems and processes of accountability which incite a cycle of failure and guilt areconsidered destructive of the purpose for which they were instituted (Rebuilding the Common

Life). Socialising accountability is also deemed defective if it is not participative: Theprocess of being accountable, to one another and as a group, needs to be worked at. In somegroups it may be that the level of trust is not very high, or quieter members may feel silenced

by the more powerful or articulate (Rebuilding Our Common Life). Suggestions are offeredfor building trust and encouraging participation. These include providing opportunities for the

Family Group to spend more time together; offering individuals more scope for sharing theirexperiences, concerns, interests, spiritual resources and faith journey with the Group or a sub-Group; applying techniques which encouraging listening skills, create space for contributions

from less dominant members and reinforcing the egalitarian character of the membership ofthe group; appointing a soul friend or sponsor to mentor individual members, and; the

collective pursuit of action for justice and peace (Rebuilding Our Common Life).


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It is acknowledged that the dynamics of socialising accountability varies significantly amongfamily groups and as part of the Communitys concern with The Rediscovery of Spirituality

each group has been requested to audit and appraise its functioning (Shanks, 1999, p. 72).Guidance on the conduct of this audit has been provided in a manual, launched in 1997,

entitled Rebuilding Our Common Life (Annual Report, 1997, p. 12). The purposes of this

Toolkit for Exploring the Rule includes examining ways in which members might beenabled to account corporately as well as individually and how the entity of the Family

Group can enhance its corporate accountability (Rebuilding Our Common Life). Suggestionsfor the performance of a Family Group Audit is contained in the toolkit. An audit schedule

is supplied which poses a number of questions relating to accountability. Family Groups areasked to reflect on: how the confidentiality and trust of members is enhanced as a basis for

practising accountability; the optimum size of the group or sub-group for facilitating

responsible accounting; whether the dynamics of the group is an impediment toaccountability and whether an enabler from another group or from outside would

encourage greater participation; whether the group practices accountability in relation to allaspects of the Rule or does it restrict the scope of its accounting to exploring adherence to the

economic discipline? It is suggested that the hierarchical/personal accountability of a Memberto the Leader might be integrated with the mutual accountability practised in the FamilyGroups through the individual discussing with the Group the content of the annual returns

which are forwarded to the Leader (Rebuilding Our Common Life).

Among the family groups studied there was variation in the approach to a socialising

accountability. One group rejected the practices associated with it as embarrassing andintrusive. Others perceived that it was a positive process and appreciated the openness andhonesty associated and the discipline it imparted on their daily lives. Some of the members

interviewed suggested that the economic discipline was the easiest aspect of the rule to keep,while the accountability for the use of time and the commitment to a regular devotional life

presented more of a challenge. One member mentioned that he had considered suspendinghis membership for a time, due to the difficulties experienced in attending group meetings ona regular basis.

CONCLUSION

While the Iona Community might be a rather unusual site for accounting research, it offerssome novel and significant insights on accounting and accountability, particularly the

distinction between individualising and socialising accountabilities. This case is markedlydifferent from earlier research on accounting in religious organisations where the primary

focus is on the study of the performance of the accounting function. The Iona Community, bycontrast represents a movement which has instituted systems of accounting andaccountability as part of the observance by its members of a Rule and as an integral

component of their Christian practice. Accounting is perceived as having an important role inthe construction and operation of an individuals spirituality and in their identity as a member

of the Community. It is interesting to note that, in these circumstances, the formal accountingthat characterised the earlier forms of the economic discipline were not rejected becausethey were perceived as colonising or in any way antithetical to the values espoused by the

community. In fact, vigilance in the accounting prescription was perceived as a mark of anactive and worthy member of the Community who was fully attuned to its objectives. Over

time the emphasis on onerous and tedious accounting practices was supplanted by a broader,

more socialising frame of accountability which emphasised face-to-face interaction conductedin family groups. In these forums socialising accountability was best facilitated through the


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nurture of trust among members. This study illustrates that socialising accountability is adisclosure accountability, based on concepts of mutual adjustment and identity creation, both

individual and collective identity. However, the individualising forms of control associatedwith hierarchical structures and purposive rational action is built upon formal control

structures.

Another compelling feature of the Iona Community is the way in which, through its concept

of integrated spirituality, it perceives no separation of the sacred from the secular. Thusmembers of the Community give and receive accounts in financial terms as part of their

religious observance and as a means of cementing their adherence to the collectivity. Thisillustrates that accounting can support the sacred through processes of socialisingaccountability. This finding contrasts with the work of Laughlin (1988) and Booth (1993).

Here the sacred-secular distinction was apparent when the focus was on the techno-rationalaspects of organisational life rather than examining both the techno-rational and the relational.

However, other forms of dualism did emerge in the case of the Iona Community. Whileembracing the concept of an integrated spirituality the Community struggled with a duality

of movement and organisation, seeking to hold the collective identity as a spiritualmovement with the realities of an increasingly complex organisation. As an organisation withattendant bureaucratic structures the Iona Community has instituted forms of vertical or

individualising accountability which may compromise its persona as a community. TheCommunity has been compelled to wrestle with the consequential difficulty of meldinghierarchical control with its adherence to socialising forms of accountability. This illustrates

the potential danger that hierarchical or individualising forms of accountability will supplantthe commuitarian or socialising form. Clearly further research is required to better understandthe nature and role of accounting and accountabilities in this kind of organisation.


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