Accounting as Social Science: Abstract Versus Concrete Sources of Accounting Change

Tony Lowe and Tony Tinker

Chapter 4 in Critical Perspectives in Management Control, 1989, pp 47-61 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to argue and illustrate that in its present stage of development Accounting is at one and the same time an unhappy mixture of abstracted and pragmatic scientism. A prevalent view of ‘modern’ Accounting in Western society may be said to be reflected in the idea that Accounting is an instrumental discipline (of management control) and moreover that its scope as such is primarily and largely confined to micro-organisations. Some would probably argue that it is really no more than a technique of (micro) organisation analysis and moreover that it hardly deserves the respect accorded to a subject when it is called a discipline. It is merely a pragmatic technique of business book-keeping and as such a ‘service activity’ (Peasnell, 1978) or technical activity (Burchell et al.,1980) for business organisations.

Keywords: Productive Capital; Capitalist Society; Accountancy Practice; Certified Public Accountant; Western Capitalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-07658-1_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-07658-1_4

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