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

Ingrid Jeacle and Eamonn Walsh

Accounting History Review, 2008, vol. 18, issue 2, 121-140

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.

Keywords: department store; Foucault; inventory control; retail history; retail price inventory method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585200802058602 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:18:y:2008:i:2:p:121-140

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rabf21

DOI: 10.1080/09585200802058602

Access Statistics for this article

Accounting History Review is currently edited by Stephen Walker

More articles in Accounting History Review from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().