Management accounting as normal social science

Hendrik Vollmer

Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2009, vol. 34, issue 1, 141-150

Abstract: The publication of "Management accounting change: Approaches and perspectives" (Wickramasinghe, D., & Alawattage, C. (2007). Management accounting change: Approaches and perspectives. London, New York: Routledge) provides an occasion for considering the extent to which management accounting has become a normal social science. This review essay argues that management accounting is a social science defined by a pluralism of approaches, and it identifies the generalization of social perspectives on management accounting, and particularly their ability to transcend technical and economic aspects of accounting practice, as crucial components in reproducing this specific form of expertise. Contrary to Kuhnian expectations, this social science hosts a multiplicity of paradigms, and its scientists are not exclusively concerned with the subtlest and most esoteric aspects of the phenomena under study. Instead, as social scientists management accountants are generalists as much as they are specialists.

Keywords: accounting; organizations; society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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