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- Title
Accounting rationality and financial legitimation.
- Authors
Montagna, Paul
- Abstract
This article traces the impact of multinational capital on the organization, independence and knowledge base of the accounting profession. The quantitative measurement of value is a central requirement in capitalist production and exchange relations. A major role in this measurement has been played by public accounting since its establishment as a profession in the U.S. and Great Britain at the turn of the century. Uncertainty in financial markets is reducible through objective analysis of the relations of capital in a value-free environment. Their mandate is to provide to the public an independent examination of corporate financial accounts in the form of an annual audit. In the first part of the article, there is an examination of occupational and organizational elements in public accounting which create, support and enhance a distinctive accounting rationality. The focus of the second part of the article is an examination of the ideological base of public accounting and how it serves as a symbolic framework for decisions concerning capital investment and borrowing. In political democracies, extensive financial control requires legitimation. Accountants provide that legitimation through theory and practice.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; UNITED States; CAPITAL; ACCOUNTING; CAPITALISM; FINANCIAL markets; FINANCIAL services industry
- Publication
Theory & Society, 1986, Vol 15, Issue 1/2, p103
- ISSN
0304-2421
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/BF00156929