Accounting Organizations and Society最新文献

This study critically reflects on the concept of 'accountability as responsiveness' by investigating the co-responsiveness of the other within accountability relationships. The research focuses on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and recent 'localisation' agendas in the humanitarian sector, which prioritise supporting and empowering local response efforts in crisis-affected areas. Drawing on an affirmative view of the other (Braidotti, 2006a, 2011a, 2013b, 2019, 2021), the study examines how this is manifested in specific participatory accountability practices. Two such practices within the ICRC, namely 'threats and risk assessments' and 'mapping the journey of the affected person,' are explored to demonstrate their role in the epistemic endeavour of understanding the other in a grounded, embodied, and affirmative manner. It is observed that these practices are designed to elicit specific levels and types of co-responsivity from the other. Furthermore, the study reveals how the intention to know the other in a situated and affirmative sense materialised across three main modes of knowing: the transformative experience of 'becoming' an affected person, the coping mechanisms employed, and the navigation of humanitarian crises. These findings contribute to the literature on accountability as responsiveness by providing specific insights and alternative understandings of responsiveness in accountability relationships. Additionally, the study proposes that accountability practices of this kind can generate specific types of knowledge and facilitate empowerment.

A long line of psychology research suggests that people develop underlying behavioral trait expectations based on facial characteristics, and that these appearance-based trait inferences can influence judgments and decisions. In this study, we examine the relation between audit partners' appearances and their career outcomes. Using independent ratings of audit partners’ facial traits, we find that partners whose appearance violates common gender stereotypes have less prestigious client portfolios. Specifically, we find a negative relation between appearing “competent” and the career outcomes of females and a negative relation between appearing “warm” and the career outcomes of males. Subsequent analyses suggest that these relations are concentrated among non-Big 4 audit partners. We further consider the relation between facial traits and career outcomes and find evidence that males (but not females) whose appearance violates gender stereotypes are less likely to work for Big 4 audit firms. Together, our findings provide insights into the relations between appearance, gender, and career outcomes for public company auditors in the United States.

This paper develops a theoretical history of the intricate relationship between accounting as a recording technology and memory, arguing that accounting's influence extends beyond mere financial documentation to shape human memory and projections into the past and the future. Drawing on Stiegler's theory of transindividuation, understood as the trans-formation of individuals, groups and technologies, and his emphasis on technology-mediated memory, we propose that varying types of accounting records cultivate different memory forms by fostering spatiotemporal projections which reshape the societal perception and comprehension of accounting. Our analysis relies on a comparison between two decentralized transaction recording systems similar in their operations, but which emerged in two different eras: blockchain and early double-entry bookkeeping. Our approach draws from Haydu (1998) to identify similarities and contrasts between different periods which can emphasize the uniqueness of each, while conceptualizing long-term trends. By juxtaposing DEB and BC as instances of decentralized records, the study postulates a critical shift in accounting's transindividuation over time. We argue that while DEB's norms of recording aided in the formation of collective memory and long-term projections, turning records into objects of social investment, BC's recording, propelled by automation and an economic emphasis, manifests as an isolated numerical sequence hindering the scope of human projections. We posit that compared to early DEB, BC recording, although it holds the potential for democratization, may lead to divisions between users, among themselves, and with their records. We discuss the potential implications of this trans-dividuation process for notions of accountability, transparency, regulation, and the broader political role of accounting in society.

Previous studies of macroeconomic accounting have focused on the conceptual and political development of national accounts and how such theoretical concepts generate economic reality. By turning focus to the calculative practices of macroeconomic accounting, studying the Norwegian Quarterly National Accounts (QNA), the present work underlines that the national economy is not only constituted in the political discourse of growth and within international classifications, but also within the everyday processes of calculating the numbers. It shows how the QNA team struggles to adhere to the formal classifications and find reliable empirical accounts that matches them. In such situations, epistemic strategies are employed to handle the “gaps” and misalignments between the formal classifications and the everyday calculative practice. By theorizing the validation and support of weak numbers within a calculative culture shaped by the handling of second-order measurements and interrupted representations, the present study contributes to an emerging accounting literature on interrupted and hyperreal representations.

We conduct three experiments to examine the implications of corporate apologies on investors' reactions to allegations of financial misconduct. In Experiment 1, we manipulate whether the firm apologizes or denies the misconduct. Additionally, we manipulate how the firm apologizes for (denies) the misconduct by comparing “basic” response strategies (i.e., responses containing nothing more than a simple apology or denial) with “full” response strategies (i.e., responses containing additional elements, such as explicitly naming the misconduct). We find that investors are less willing to invest when the firm apologizes than denies it. Using mediation analysis, we find that when investors observe an apology, they attribute more responsibility to the management for the events, leading to a lower perception of credibility and a higher perception of litigation risk, ultimately affecting their investment judgment. Our results do not provide evidence that more extensive responses affect investors differently than more basic apologies or denials. In Experiment 2, we investigate self-disclosure as a potential strategy for firms to mute investors' negative reactions to apologies. Our results replicate the findings of Experiment 1. However, we do not find evidence that management can attenuate the adverse effects of apologizing for misconduct by self-disclosing the misconduct. In Experiment 3, we separate whether the apology includes an acceptance of responsibility or not and whether there is subsequent evidence of guilt or evidence of innocence. Surprisingly, investors do not react more favorably to apologies (with or without acceptance of responsibility) than denials, even when evidence substantiates the allegations. Overall, our study demonstrates that it is difficult for managers to attenuate the negative effects of financial misconduct on investors’ perceptions with apologies.

Accounting standard setters value input from academic research as they deliberate potential new standards and evaluate the effects of existing standards. In this paper, we argue that experimental research is well-suited to producing insights to standard setters before, during, and after accounting standards are issued. In so doing, we address common questions that arise when researchers consider undertaking research on standard-setting issues. To facilitate future research in this domain, we compile the existing experimental research on standard-setting issues and classify it in categories that correspond to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's technical agenda and codification taxonomy. We then use this classification to identify examples of important questions that future experimental research could address. Finally, we draw on our own experiences to provide insights intended to help researchers conduct high-quality experimental research that is relevant to standard setters and publishable in top academic journals.

We conduct an experiment to examine how repeated earnings notifications and the mode in which investors check notifications affect their reactions to managers' strategic positive emphasis in earnings release titles (i.e., when firm performance is not as positive as the emphasis indicated in the title). We predict and find that a title with (versus without) a strategic positive emphasis can result in both a negative content incongruency effect and a positive title impression effect. Consistent with our expectations, we find that repetition not only dampens the negative content incongruency effect but also amplifies the positive title impression effect. As a result, compared to a title without a strategic positive emphasis, we find that a title with a strategic positive emphasis is more likely to result in a favorable investment judgment when investors receive repeated notifications in a one-by-one mode than when they receive a notification for the first time. These results are consistent with our predictions. We also explore the impact of title emphasis when investors receive repeated notifications in an all-at-once mode. Our results show that a strategic positive title emphasis does not influence investment judgment when investors check repeated notifications all at once, suggesting that a small behavioral change can protect investors from being swayed by managers’ strategic positive title emphasis.

This paper examines whether and how different types of CEO power affect the incorporation of past performance into CEOs' future targets. We theorize that CEOs can use their structural and prestige power to downward bias the target updating process to receive easier targets. However, CEOs with high prestige power may be more willing to accept target increases due to the signaling value of ambitious targets. Results from data on earnings per share (EPS) targets support our hypotheses. We find that asymmetric upward ratcheting, as reported in prior studies, is mostly driven by low-power CEOs. In contrast, CEOs with structural power receive weaker upward and stronger downward target adjustments. CEOs with prestige power receive favorable upward and downward target adjustments relative to CEOs with low power but not relative to CEOs with structural power. Interestingly, the two types of power do not have additive effects on target adjustments. Moreover, we use three natural experiments that enhance the signaling motive of CEOs and find that after these events, CEOs with prestige power agree to more challenging upward revisions compared to low-power CEOs. Our results contribute to accounting literature by distinguishing between different types of CEO power and by examining how organizational and social factors affect target-setting dynamics.

Obesity has become a topic of public discourse in Britain with claims that it is now one of the major causes of ill health and premature death. In an effort to tackle this obesity ‘crisis’, the UK government has introduced mandatory calorie labelling on menus. This legislation requires that the number of calories associated with a meal option, together with the recommended calorie consumption per day, be displayed on menus. Such ‘calorie accounting’ seeks to prompt the consumer to make menu choices consistent with public health ambitions and to encourage food establishments to reformulate lower calorie menu offerings. Drawing on the concepts of technologies of government (Miller & Rose, 1990; Rose & Miller, 1992) and biopedagogy (Harewood, 2009; Wright, 2009), this paper suggests that calorie accounting operates as a technology of biopedagogy which seeks to discipline and govern the body in contemporary neoliberal society. The paper also contributes to recent accounting scholarship on counter-conduct (Foucault, 2007) by highlighting how calorie accounting produces a form of counter-conduct that coexists with conformity to governmental goals. The paper draws upon three primary data sources: a documentary analysis of 44 policy documents on obesity and calorie reduction, an analysis of 112 responses to a public consultation exercise on calorie labelling, and 20 interviews with relevant actors.