IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/abacus/v41y2005i2p181-210.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Govern(mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777)

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Baños Sánchez‐Matamoros
  • Fernando Gutiérrez Hidalgo
  • Concha Álvarez‐Dardet Espejo
  • Francisco Carrasco Fenech

Abstract

New perspectives in accounting history have uncovered previously unattended relations between accounting and government. Earlier Foucauldian analyses of governments have not explained sufficiently the relations of accounting practices to governmental discourses in order to manage populations. This work uses the governmentality frame to analyse the role of accounting in two organizations located in the south of Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century: the New Settlements of Sierra Morena and Andalucia (NSs) and the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (RTFS). The period studied is remarkable because it was the apogee of the Enlightenment in Spain. From the standpoint of government, this period facilitated a new way to manage populations. The present work has drawn on Foucault's concept of governmentality in order to discover how accounting worked in two government‐supported organizations independently of the discourses that pervaded each one. Drawing on the reticulation of the space, the use of rules and accounting from the governmental perspective, we analyse those institutions. The article concludes that the reticulation of space is an essential apparatus to exert action at a distance; the rules are a type of government technology; and, overall, accounting is a practice for the mastery of the population independently from the discourse of the institution.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Baños Sánchez‐Matamoros & Fernando Gutiérrez Hidalgo & Concha Álvarez‐Dardet Espejo & Francisco Carrasco Fenech, 2005. "Govern(mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777)," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 41(2), pages 181-210, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:41:y:2005:i:2:p:181-210
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00175.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00175.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00175.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Salvador Carmona & Marta Macías, 2001. "Institutional Pressures, Monopolistic Conditions and the Implementation of Early Cost Management Practices: The Case of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (1820–1887)," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 37(2), pages 139-165, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maran, Laura & Bracci, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2016. "Accounting and the management of power: Napoleon’s occupation of the commune of Ferrara (1796–1799)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 60-78.
    2. Weetman, Pauline, 2006. "Discovering the ‘international’ in accounting and finance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 351-370.
    3. Carnegie, Garry D. & McBride, Karen M. & Napier, Christopher J. & Parker, Lee D., 2020. "Accounting history and theorising about organisations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Malcolm Anderson, 2002. "Accounting History publications 2001," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 505-512.
    2. Masrani, Swapnesh & McKiernan, Peter, 2011. "Accounting as a legitimising device in voluntary price agreements: The Dundee jute industry, 1945–1960," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 415-433.
    3. Guerreiro, Marta Silva & Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima & Craig, Russell, 2012. "Voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards by large unlisted companies in Portugal – Institutional logics and strategic responses," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 482-499.
    4. Carmona, Salvador & Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Gutiérrez, Fernando, 2004. "Accounting History Research:Traditional and New Accounting History Perspectives," De Computis "Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad". De Computis "Spanish Journal of Accounting History"., Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA). Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association., issue 1, pages 24-53, December.
    5. Enrico Guarini & Francesca Magli & Alberto Nobolo, 2018. "Accounting for community building: the municipal amalgamation of Milan in 1873–1876," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1-2), pages 5-30, May.
    6. Covaleski, Mark A. & Dirsmith, Mark W. & Weiss, Jane M., 2013. "The social construction, challenge and transformation of a budgetary regime: The endogenization of welfare regulation by institutional entrepreneurs," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 333-364.
    7. Doadrio, Leopoldo & Alvarado, María & Carrera, Nieves, 2015. "Reforma de la normativa contable española: análisis de su entramado institucional," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 200-216.
    8. Carlos Larrinaga-González & Miriam Núñez-Torrado & Fernando Gutiérrez-Hidalgo, 2008. "An Institutional Analysis of Cost Accounting Practices in the Spanish Eighteenth Century," Working Papers 08.04, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Business Administration.
    9. Canning, Mary & O’Dwyer, Brendan, 2013. "The dynamics of a regulatory space realignment: Strategic responses in a local context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 169-194.
    10. Brian West & Garry D. Carnegie, 2010. "Accounting's chaotic margins," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 201-228, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:41:y:2005:i:2:p:181-210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0001-3072 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.