IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/115981.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How do accounts pass? A discussion of Vollmer’s “Accounting for Tacit Coordination”

Author

Listed:
  • Palermo, Tommaso

Abstract

Purpose: Building on the notes prepared for a roundtable organized by qualitative research in accounting & management (QRAM) about the paper titled “Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory” (Vollmer, 2019), this paper aims to extend our understanding of “tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts” and its implications for research on accounting as a social practice. Design/methodology/approach: Building on a selective review of previous studies of accounting “in action” and one illustrative vignette, this paper teases out specific aspects of Vollmer’s argument, which is much broader and ambitious in nature. The aim is to go deeper on one issue – “tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts” and the role of (accounting) practitioners as “stewards of silence” – to encourage further work that unpacks the dynamics and tensions that occur when practitioners seek to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts. Findings: This paper shows how our understanding of the relationship between “tacit coordination” and the “passing of accounts” can be enriched by examining how (accounting) practitioners deal with pressures towards explication. To this end, this paper develops three propositions, which focus on how organizational status, organizational complexity and temporal dynamics may affect the extent to which (accounting) practitioners are able to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts. Practical implications: The three propositions presented in this paper can be used in future studies to further explore the dynamics of tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts and therefore contribute to a more fine-grained illustration of some of the ideas presented in the paper by Vollmer (2019). Originality/value: This paper sketches the contours of an approach that has the potential to make some of the ambitious ideas presented in Vollmer’s paper more actionable in future studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Palermo, Tommaso, 2022. "How do accounts pass? A discussion of Vollmer’s “Accounting for Tacit Coordination”," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115981, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:115981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/115981/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Preston, Alistair, 1986. "Interactions and arrangements in the process of informing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 521-540, October.
    2. Tommaso Palermo & Michael Power & Simon Ashby, 2017. "Navigating Institutional Complexity: The Production of Risk Culture in the Financial Sector," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 154-181, March.
    3. Hopwood, Anthony G., 1987. "The archeology of accounting systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 207-234, April.
    4. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    6. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony & Hughes, John & Nahapiet, Janine, 1980. "The roles of accounting in organizations and society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 5-27, January.
    7. Briers, Michael & Chua, Wai Fong, 2001. "The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 237-269, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Palermo, Tommaso & Power, Michael & Ashby, Simon, 2022. "How accounting ends: self-undermining repetition in accounting lifecycles," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. O’Leary, Susan & Smith, David, 2020. "Moments of resistance: An internally persuasive view of performance and impact reports in non-governmental organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Chua, Wai Fong, 2007. "Accounting, measuring, reporting and strategizing - Re-using verbs: A review essay," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 487-494.
    4. Baxter, Jane & Chua, Wai Fong, 2003. "Alternative management accounting research--whence and whither," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 97-126.
    5. André, Kévin & Cho, Charles H. & Laine, Matias, 2018. "Reference points for measuring social performance: Case study of a social business venture," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 660-678.
    6. Aziza Laguecir & Anja Kern & Cécile Kharoubi, 2020. "Management accounting systems in institutional complexity: Hysteresis and boundaries of practices in social housing," Post-Print hal-03134361, HAL.
    7. Manzurul Alam & Zahirul Hoque, 2021. "Boundary management and accounting visibility in social services: a case study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5377-5401, December.
    8. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2006. "Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 819-841, November.
    9. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    10. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2011. "25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 494-513.
    11. Boll, Karen, 2014. "Shady car dealings and taxing work practices: An ethnography of a tax audit process," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-19.
    12. Margaret A. Abernethy & Wai Fong Chua, 1996. "A Field Study of Control System “Redesign†: The Impact of Institutional Processes on Strategic Choice," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 569-606, September.
    13. Yu, Lichen & Mouritsen, Jan, 2020. "Accounting, simultaneity and relative completeness: The sales and operations planning forecast and the enactment of the ‘demand chain’," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    14. Neu, Dean, 2006. "Accounting for public space," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 391-414.
    15. Rowe, Casey & Shields, Michael D. & Birnberg, Jacob G., 2012. "Hardening soft accounting information: Games for planning organizational change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 260-279.
    16. Wai Fong Chua & Habib Mahama, 2007. "The Effect of Network Ties on Accounting Controls in a Supply Alliance: Field Study Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 47-86, March.
    17. Maroun, Warren & Solomon, Jill, 2014. "Whistle-blowing by external auditors: Seeking legitimacy for the South African Audit Profession?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 109-121.
    18. Barrett, Michael & Cooper, David J. & Jamal, Karim, 2005. "Globalization and the coordinating of work in multinational audits," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Lorino, Philippe & Mourey, Damien & Schmidt, Géraldine, 2017. "Goffman's theory of frames and situated meaning-making in performance reviews. The case of a category management approach in the French retail sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-49.
    20. Anne Pezet & Jérémy Morales, 2010. "Les contrôleurs de gestion, « médiateurs » de la financiarisation," Post-Print halshs-00498673, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accounting theory; Passing; Silence; Tacit coordination; Vollmer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ehl:lserod:115981. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.