Accounting representation and the road to commercial salvation
Abstract
The paper examines the contribution ofinscriptions, in particular new accounting measures, to a process oftransforming
the ethos and operations of Britech, a high-tech division ofa major British manufacturer. Focusing upon theincreased and changing use of inscriptions at this site, we interpret them as moves to signify and facilitate an increasingly‘‘commercial’’ orientation towards activities. We describe how new writings, particularly new management accountingmeasures, were deployed to create spaces ofrepresentation in which traditional views and practices were problematizedin a strategic effort to constitute a new organisational reality for Britech employees. The new systems of inscription, weargue, were a key resource in the translation ofestablished practices. This translation was facilitated by writings thatexpressed and promoted conditions ofaccelerating change that were prompted by pressures to avoid closure ordivestment ofthe Britech assembly site. Analysis ofthe inscriptions is thusofsignificance for understanding how ahuman agency deemed capable ofenacting the new commercial agenda at Britech is constituted and reproduced.
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Introduction
Despite the importance ofwri ting 1 for thecommunication ofinf ormation and the promotionofa common frame ofref erence, its presence and
effect in organisations has attracted little directattention from researchers. 2 Although accountinginscriptions such as budgets, performance measures,periodic reports, memos, etc. are widelydeployed inter alia in the enactment ofwhat is* Corresponding author. 1 We take a broad definition of writing here, encompassinga range ofrepresent ational forms including the alphanumericand the graphical, whether paper or screen-based.
2 The power ofwriting (Derrida, 1976, 1978; Goody, 1986,
1987; McArthur, 1986; Ong, 1982) is evident both in theimportance that is attached to ‘‘putting it in writing’’, and in thereluctance ofthose seeking to keep their options open tocommit themselves to the relative permanence and presumedunambiguity ofthe written word. Writing is a systematicconversion ofthe power relations between controller and
controlled into written words (Foucault, 1974); indeed,inscribed texts are fundamental facts ofpower (Nietzsche,1930). Writing is subject to processes ofinterpretatio n, and it istherefore necessary to pay attention to how inscriptions arereceived and deployed.accounted for in organisations, and have beenextensively researched as sets oftechni ques andpractices that impact on organisational functioning,the particular attributes they have, and theirpower effects as forms of writing per se, remain tobe researched adequately (but see Latour, 1990;
Robson, 1992). Moreover, our knowledge is limitedconcerning the extent to which accountinginscriptions permeate a specific organisational
layer more than others, and t
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