Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice

by Anthony G. Hopwood, Peter Miller

Overview

This book provides a socio-historical analysis of accounting. It is the first major collection to address the multiple arenas in which accounting emerges and operates. As accounting continues to gain in importance in so many spheres of social life, an understanding of the conditions and consequences of such a calculative technology is vital. This book demonstrates the value of analyzing accounting work in relation to developments in accounting, organizational analysis, sociology and political science, and provides a critical perspective on the conditions and consequences of accounting practices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521469654
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/06/1994
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Management , #24
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

1. Accounting as social and institutional practice: an introduction Peter Miller; 2. Early double-entry bookkeeping and the rhetoric of accounting calculation Grahame Thompson; 3. Writing, examining, disciplining: the genesis of accounting's modern power Keith Hoskin and Richard Macve; 4. Governing the calculable person Peter Miller and Ted O'Leary; 5. Accountancy and the First World War Anne Loft; 6. Accounting and labour: integrations and disintegrations Philip Bougen; 7. The politics of economic measurement: the rise of the 'productivity problem' in the 1940s Jim Tomlinson; 8. Corporate control in large British companies: the intersection of management accounting and industrial relations in postwar Britain Peter Armstrong; 9. Value added accounting and national economic policy Anthony Hopwood, Stuart Burchell and Colin Clubb; 10. Management by accounting Brendan McSweeny; 11. Regulating accountancy in the UK: episodes in a changing relationship between the state and the profession David Cooper, Keith Robson, Tony Puxty and Hugh Wilmott; 12. The audit society Michael Power

Editorial Reviews

"By showing how accounting conventions are involved in a wide variety of social phenomena, [the book] will be of interest to many sociologists concerned with organizations, political economy, and the nature of modern industrial society." American Journal of Sociology

"Altogether, these pieces provide sound historical detail and case-by-case support for the argumrnt put forth..." Journal of Communication

"These are exciting times in accounting theory and research. Sociologists should share in that excitement. Reading this book is an excellent way to begin." Paul Montagna, Contemporary Sociology

From the Publisher