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Management accounting and power: A contested relationship

Author

Listed:
  • João A. Ribeiro

    (CETE, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto)

  • Robert W. Scapens

    (Manchester Business School)

Abstract

This paper is structured in two parts. In the first part we undertake a brief discussion on the concept of power and we explore the way this concept has been regarded in several strands of literature on management accounting – the conventional, the contingency, the pluralist, the interpretive, the critical and the post-structuralist. Some of these strands – for instance, the pluralist, the critical and the post-structuralist – explicitly recognise the importance of (some conception of) power in their approach to management accounting in society and organisations. Other approaches are less explicit in that recognition or simply overlook/reject it. The second part of the paper takes sides, departing from the idea that there is a relationship between management accounting and power and proposes a framework for conceptualising that relationship. This framework attempts to bring together different dimensions/conceptions of power, and is proposed as a way to study management accounting and its change within organisations.

Suggested Citation

  • João A. Ribeiro & Robert W. Scapens, 2006. "Management accounting and power: A contested relationship," CEF.UP Working Papers 0611, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    • Handle: RePEc:por:cetedp:0611
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    File URL: http://www.fep.up.pt/investigacao/cete/papers/dp0611.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Syarifuddin, 2017. "Dramaturgy Budget Policy Formulation: Intuitive Response of Politics and Power," GATR Journals afr143, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    power; management accounting; change; circuits of power;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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