A tale of tar and feathering: the retail price inventory method and the Englishman

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation and operation of a simple method of inventory valuation: the retail price inventory method. Previous research has examined the method's widespread adoption by US department stores during the 1920s. In particular, attention has focused on the disciplinary properties of the method and the creation of visibilities which recast power relations within the store. This paper attempts to extend existing scholarly enquiry by crossing the Atlantic to follow the practical adoption of the method by an Irish department store in the 1930s. The case reveals the extent of employee resistance to the method's adoption, culminating in a physical attack on the accountant employed with its execution. More importantly however, implemented incorrectly, the method failed to deliver the promised surveillance role, but instead yielded an unanticipated consequence. It revealed the gross profitability of the retail component of store trade and hence supported a managerial initiative to expand this side of business activities to the eventual detriment of the former resistant departmental buyers. The paper therefore acknowledges the broader role of a seemingly neutral accounting technique and reinforces the importance of recognising the organisational context of accounting practice.