Una aproximación social, institucional y organizacional a la contabilidad[A Social, Institutional and Organizational Approach to Accounting]

For years a metaphor has been positioned according to which accounting is the language of business. With a greater conceptual elaboration, accounting is also seen as a measurement and valuation device, which fulfils operative roles in organizations. Also, in the context of globalized financial markets, it is pointed out accounting is a method of monetary calculation intended to provide a continuous source of information that helps the formation of the prices of assets and financial instruments that are traded in markets, so it is the basis for supporting the investors' decision-making. These visions reduce accounting to its legal, technical, instrumental or economic dimension. This work seeks to systematize elements for an understanding of the role of accounting in organizations from some interpretive arguments of the social sciences. We seek, therefore, to identify some of the social, institutional and organizational limitations in the accounting mainstream. Our approach involves understanding accounting as a social, institutional and organizational practice.