CHAPTER 12

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ACCOUNTING

DR. MD TAPAN MAHMUD

AIS, FBS, BUP
Learning Objectives 2

1) Gain an insight into particular perspectives that challenge conventional

opinions about the role of accounting within society

2) Have a broad understanding of what ‘critical theory’ and ‘critical analysis’

means

3) Understand the basis of arguments that suggest that financial accounting and
social and environmental accounting tend to support the positions of
individuals who hold power, wealth and social status, while undermining the
positions of others

4) Understand that the disclosure (or non-disclosure) of information can be

construed to be an important strategy to promote and legitimize particular
social orders, and maintain the power and wealth of certain ‘elites’
Learning Objectives 3

5. Understand the reasons behind why some researchers embrace a view that
governments frequently act to support powerful stakeholders (such as
shareholders) rather than the interests of less powerful stakeholders (such as
workers)

6. Understand arguments that suggest that accounting research will not only be
influenced by current practice and dominant ideologies, but also has the
potential to influence dominant ideologies and practice

7. Be able to question whether critical accounting researchers are actually

embracing strategies that could realistically encourage social and structural
change, or whether many ‘critical’ researchers are simply partaking in various
intellectual debates with little real attempt to create positive change
Introduction 4

 This chapter provides an overview regarding an alternative perspectives about

the role of Accounting

 This chapter considers various critical arguments regarding:

 Role of the state (government)
In sustaining particular
 Role of the Accounting-research
social orders…
 Role of Accounting-practices
Introduction 5
(Critical Researchers Vs Mainstream Researchers)

Critical Accounting Researchers Mainstream Accounting Researchers

(Theorists)
How Accounting contributes to elements of Often test for particular relationships
society which are not equitable for some between chosen variables (capital market
stakeholders, such as, particular less- research) or try to evaluate a certain
powerful communities (ex: employees) accounting method; they do not question
any inequality of the processes or systems
Put less emphasis on mathematical Put grave importance on quantitative
modeling and statistics (more qualitative) aspects of research and measurement
and give more importance to how certain variables/techniques
social structures and how related processes
came into first place
Often don’t provide direct solutions to Often provide policy implications and/or
inequalities highlighted by them measurement conclusions
The Critical Perspective Defined 6
(Short notes from the Introduction section)

 Critical Perspective:
 Focuses on: how the practice of Accounting tends to support particular
economic and social structure, such as, Capitalism
 Challenges: the ‘bourgeois’ view that claims that various rights and privileges
are spread throughout the society (i.e., assumption of a pluralist society)
 Rejects: the view that Accounting provides an objective and unbiased
reflection of particular transactions and events
 Believes that: Accounting actually provides the means of maintaining
positions of the ‘powerful’ and ‘wealthy’ sects of the society
 Highlights: how Accounting acts to sustain inequitable (unfair) systems
The Critical Perspective Defined 7

 Refers to accounting research that goes beyond questioning whether particular

methods of accounting should be employed; instead, it questions prevailing
social arrangements and how accounting practices actually contribute to
inequities

 Roslender (2006):
 It is concerned with the promotion of a better society and the interests of the mass
 It questions the prevailing social arrangements and how this might be changed for an
overall beneficial position
 It promotes the self-awareness of ‘what is’ and ‘what might be’
 Simply interpreting or understanding what we choose to study is not enough, we have
to turn this learning towards the advantage of society
 Critical theory makes no pretense to be objective, it is also partial, and critical
theorists know and value this partiality
The Critical Perspective Defined 8
(Emancipatory properties of Critical Theory and Researches )

 Gaffikin (2008):
 If you don’t think (question) about ‘what you know’ and ‘how you know’ it; you may
be subliminally reflecting what others (powerful) want you to do
 Critical theory guides one towards ‘self-reflection’ and hence it is ‘emancipatory’

 Emancipation relates to the efforts aimed at removing ‘oppression’ of some

groups or procuring ‘political rights’ or ‘equality’ for the weak

 Roslender (2006):
 A critical (social science) approach provides for ‘democratic’ communication and
interaction required for ‘emancipation’
The Critical Perspective Defined
(Social Praxis) 9
 Praxis within critical accounting research:
 Use of the term praxis is usually informed by a ‘Marxist’-inspired approach
 There is a two-way relationship between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’; theory influences
social practices and vice versa
 Development of different theoretical perspectives can bring about changes in social
practices and structures; however, the focus remain on broader level of society, not
specific accounting practices
 Newly built theory—that may question ‘wealth distribution’, ‘operations of capital
markets’—can only lead to ‘new business philosophy’ when its logical underpinnings
are accepted by a sufficient number of members (parties) of society

 Tinker (one of the founders of critical accounting movement) introduced the

idea of ‘social praxis’. According to Tinker (2005):
 Critical accounting research refers to all forms of social praxis, that are evaluative,
and aim to engender progressive change within the conceptual, institutional,
practical and political territories of accounting.
The Critical Perspective Defined 10
Insights into the Partisan Nature of Accounting
(Philosophical basis of Critical Accounting Research)

 All research in social sciences relies on the subjective interpretation (Philosophy)

of the researchers involved, and, are therefore ‘biased’

 This subjectivity (biasness) ranges from moderate ‘socialism’ to more extreme

‘anti-capitalist’ positions; which could be seen as a threat by accounting
researchers/students/practitioners who are under the umbrella of a ‘capitalist’
system

 Hopper (1995):
 Accounting is a social practice (within political struggle), not merely a market
practice guided by equilibrium in an efficient market
 In communicating reality accountants simultaneously construct it
The Critical Perspective Defined 11
Insights into the Partisan Nature of Accounting

 Baker and Bettner (1997):

 The underlying substance of Accounting, cannot be obtained through sophisticated
elaboration of quantitative methods; Accounting’s essence can be best captured
though an understanding of its impacts on individuals, organizations and societies
 Hence, it is important for an Accounting researcher to adopt a critical perspective

 Critical accounting theorists/researchers:

 They believe that, in current system, accounting cannot be objective and neutral,
and, it is a mean of constructing or legitimizing a particular social structure
 They want to highlight, oppose and change the perceived role of accounting in
supporting the privileged sects of the society
The Critical Perspective Defined
A Marxist Critique of Accounting 12
(Critics from a certain Philosophical Perspective)

 One of the main branches of critical accounting theory is based on ‘Marxist’

informed critique of ‘Capitalism’: Capitalism is fundamentally structurally flawed:
 Capitalist unfairly accumulated their wealth by historical exploitation and
expropriation of the value created by the workers (labors) and they are largely
controlled by external and impersonal markets, not by their own free-choices
 The structural flaw: to earn profit costs need to be minimized and revenue must be
maximized, simultaneously
 To increase profits, capitalists replace workers with machines (capital), which is
bought by the revenue generated by the very workers; if all capitalists act like this,
eventually, there may not be enough demand in the society to consume products of
the factory and hence, can make the society unstable
 Symptoms of social-instability: unemployment, inflation, economic depression
 Government may treat such symptom, yet can’t address its cause, i.e., ‘Capitalism’
 Capitalist will take actions to defend their privileges, power and wealth (Tinker, 2005)
A Marxist Critique of Accounting
(Critics from a certain Philosophical Perspective) 13
 Critical Accounting theorists/researchers believe that Accounting has the
potential to be a powerful tool in mitigating structural instability of capitalism
 They seek to expose the role of accounting in supporting ‘unequal distribution’ of
power and wealth across society (Tinker, 2005)

 Gray, Owen and Adams (1996):

 The distribution of wealth, the power of corporations, the language of economics/
business and so on are so fundamentally flawed that only radical structural change
can emancipate the human/non-human life

 Accounting information will always support our current social system, because:
 Practice of Accounting is in the hands of reporting entities (large corporations)
 Accounting regulations is in the hands of governments
 Associated regulatory bodies are significantly influenced by large corporations
 Universities (mostly) don’t support ‘critical’ researches, since it is dependent on
business funding (Moore, 1991)
Critical Accounting Research Vs Social and
14
Environmental Accounting Research
 Both the research domains are dependent on ‘Political Economy Theory’, (PET),
which has two branches, such as, ‘Classical’ and ‘Bourgeois’
 Classical: this domain considers structural inequalities, sectional interests, class struggle
 Bourgeois: It accepts the society as a given and consider it as a ‘pluralist’ one

 Critical Researchers—Tinker, Puxty, Lehman, Hooper and Cooper:

 They are researching within the classical domain of PET and believe that
social/environmental accounting researchers are embracing the bourgeois domain
of PET

 Social/Environmental Researcher—Gray, Owen, Maunders, Mathews, Parker:

 They ask the businesses to be more accountable (whether they are meeting
community expectations) for their social and environmental performances
Critical Accounting Research Vs Social and
15
Environmental Accounting Research
 Critical theorists argue that:
 Greater demand for social/environmental disclosure means little, if fundamental
changes in social structure is not assured
 Disclosures of Corporate Social Reporting (CSR) act to legitimate not to challenge,
and may offer more harm than good (Puxty, 1991)
 Addressing technical issues (how/what to report) in the social/environmental
reporting wouldn’t bring meaningful results without addressing prevailing inequalities
(Cooper and Sherer, 1984)
 Social accounting research fails to examine the basic contradiction and antinomies
of the social system and it implicitly adopts a stance of ‘political quietism’, that simply
benefits the already powerful (Tinker et al., 1991)
 One is using the very process (current economics an accounting) that caused the
problem (environmental crisis) to try to solve the problem (Gray et al., 1996)
Critical Accounting Research Vs Social and
16
Environmental Accounting Research
 However, social/environmental accounting researchers:
 Have made attempts to address the concerns expressed by the critical theorists
 May have contributed to reducing a variety of negative social/environmental
externalities of business
 Recognize inequalities in the existing system and believe that capitalism’s demise in
short-run is impossible but some of its worst inequalities can be altered by winning the
support of key players in the business and political arena
 Believe that it is better to engage with the business to seek to improve through
development of new accounting practices and few researchers (Bailey, Harte,
Sugden, Lehman, O’Dwyer, Unerman, Bennett) have worked on issues, such as,
‘differential power’, between organizations and different groups of stakeholders
 You have to be in the system to change it!
Critical Accounting Research Vs Social and
17
Environmental Accounting Research
 Sadly, the Critical theorists/researchers:
 Don’t recognize/consider the position/contribution of those few researchers
 Believe: it is inappropriate for the businesses to use the term ‘sustainability’ to title their
practices, since these very practices are socially and environmentally unsustainable;
powerful businesses use the terms ‘sustainability’ to make their unsustainable
practices appear safe (to legitimize)(Gray, 2010)
 Claim: ’Corporation’ is at heart of destructing ‘sustainable’ practice, since it is a true
product of capitalism; yet they state their alignment with ‘sustainability’ just to pursue
their ‘psychopathic’ drives within capitalism (Gray, 2010)

 Gray is one of the few researches who has been (originally) writing as a
social/environmental researcher, nowadays, publishing as a critical one, too!
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
18
on Social Practice
(Philosophical Diversity of Critical Accounting Research)

 Not all critical accounting research is based on a pure Marxist view; there are
other philosophical views also:
 Deep Ecology
 Radical Feminism
 Spirituality

 Deep Ecology (Gray, Owen and Adams, 1996) (http://environment-ecology.com/deep-

ecology/63-deep-ecology.html):

 Our economic systems (and businesses) analyze trade-offs between economical

benefit and environment
 To a ‘deep ecologist’ such trade-off consideration is morally unjustified
 It challenges every aspect of taken-for-granted human activities
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
19
on Social Practice
(Philosophical Diversity of Critical Accounting Research)

 Radical Feminism:
 Accounting maintains and reinforces ‘masculine’ traits: need for success, competition
 It reduces such traits: cooperation, respect, compassion
 Masculinity stands for: achievement, heroism, assertiveness, material success and
Femininity stands for: relationship, care, quality of life (Hofstede, 1984)
 A country’s ranking in terms of ‘masculinity or femininity’ influence the national
accounting practice being adopted

 Spirituality (Molisa, 2011):

 It incorporates notions of love, care and respect
 It postulates that such notions should be used in accounting practice/research and
should be aligned with corporate accountability
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
20
on Social Practice
(Incorporation of Feminist views in Economic Theory)

 Reiter (1995):
 Mainstream financial economic theories (such as, agency theory) focuses on conflict
and discipline, rather than on productive activity and mutuality of interest

 It also promotes a single goal (profit maximization) benefitting a single group

(shareholders) rather than a multiplicity of goals, benefitting all parties

 A different philosophical stance and an alternative perspective regarding the roles of

capital market and accounting information are required for wholistic inclusion

 Inclusion of positive feminine traits and recognizing social/cultural factors-led

individual choices would lead to an increased applicability of economic theory and
would be able to alleviate the said issues of mainstream economic theories
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
21
on Social Practice
(Why are such Alternative views not Universally Accepted?)

 Why critical theorists are undermined and are sometimes marginalized:

 They are driven by a change in the social structure and principle-alternation in the
current system (Cooper and Sherer, 1984)

 They (mostly) don’t provide solution to their perceived problems (Sikka and Willmott,
2005)

 Culturally, many accountants are conditioned against criticism, that doesn’t provide
a solution (Cooper and Sherer, 1984)

 They are often strong in their condemnation of accountants (Tinker, Lehman and
Neimark, 1991)

 Such opposing positions and strong voice lead to the ‘unacceptability’ and
‘marginalization’ of the critical theorists/critical accounting researchers
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
22
on Social Practice
(Can we apply Critical theories to Accounting Researches?)

 Researchers’ attitude/orientation stem from their social and educational training

and, which is again reinforced by the accounting profession and the business
community

 This attitude influences the accountants subliminally (leading them to biased

choices) while defining a given accounting problem and opting for a specific
theory to analyze the problem

 Critical theories have a chance to influence the accounting researchers, if they

(latter) can cleanse themselves from their traditional attitude/orientation
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
23
on Social Practice
(How Critical theorists view the Accounting Profession?)

 Sikka and Wilmott (2005):

 Some accounting professional associations oppose reforms, that may ask for more
accountability from the major corporations
 All major professional accounting bodies of Australia opposed to the legalization of
the CSR disclosures, claiming that it wouldn’t increase the value of published-
information. Rather, they vouched for the corporate self-regulation and capital
market disciplining mechanisms
 Critical theorists believe that accounting profession primarily supports the business
entities and play a major role in the exploitation of workers and citizens

 However, most professional accountants don’t agree with such critical views,
since they own different ideological views regarding the role of their profession
Possible Impact of Critical Accounting Research
24
on Social Practice
(PAT Vs CAT and ‘Other Voices’)

 Positive Accounting Theory (PAT):

 It focuses on conflicts among powerful groups (shareholders/managers/debtholders)
of the society
 It takes an anti-regulation stance
 It is mainly based on capital market reactions

 Critical Accounting Theory (CAT):

 PAT doesn’t focus on the conflicts between the powerful group and the group with
less ability to influence the wealth of the powerful
 PAT’s anti-regulation stance undermines the interests of those who need some form of
regulatory protection, which further advances the interests of the powerful
 Capital market is driven by the capitalists and capital market-based studies ignore
the ‘other voices’
The Role of State in Supporting Existing Social
25
Structures

 Critical theorists believe that:

 State supports the capitalist system and takes various actions to legitimize the existing
social system, so that capitalists’ power and wealth are protected

 State might impose mandatory disclosure requirements for corporation claiming that
it wants to support the minority/disabled

 However, such disclosures don’t cause excessive inconvenience for the companies,
rather, it aids in pacifying the challenges faced by them (Arnold, 1990)

 Various securities Acts offered by the governments around the world are there to
maintain the ideological, social and economic status quo, and to restore confidence
in the current system (Merino and Neimark, 1982)

 Financial information is legislated by the state so that information can be controlled

and informed decision making for the mass can be hindered (Puxty, 1986)
The Role of Accounting Research in Supporting
26
Existing Social Structures
(Accounting Research in supporting Deregulation of Accounting)

 In the late 1970’s & 1980’s some governments around the world moved towards
deregulation, particularly, in the USA and UK

 Positive Accounting Theory (PAT) and Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) related
researchers were thriving in the said timeline, because:
 They took an anti-regulation stance, aligning with the governments and right-wing
political ideologies (Hooper et al.,1995)
 Hence, attracted considerable government-sourced funding

 If a new paradigm has to be accepted by many, it must have both intellectual

and political weights (congruent with prevailing powerful beliefs) (Hooper et al.,
1995)
The Role of Accounting Research in Supporting
Existing Social Structures 27
(Accounting Research in supporting Deregulation of Accounting)

 Economic Consequence Analysis (ECA):

 Researchers adopting PAT and alike philosophies tend to go for ECA and suggest that
new accounting regulations have net-negative economic impact
 Hence, they try to defend the existing reporting system/levels of disclosures (Zeff, 1978)
 Such studies were funded by regulatory bodies of USA (Cooper & Sherer, 1984)
 However, ECA considers economic impacts of regulation/accounting reports which
are related only to shareholders and managers (Selto & Neuman, 1981)
 Yet, direct impacts on other-users (governments, unions) and indirect impacts on non-
users (consumers, employees, tax-payers) of accounting reports are not considered
 Accounting research/prescription will not lead towards overall social-welfare unless
the impacts on other-users and non-users are considered (Cooper & Sherer, 1984)

 In the 1990’s following a stock-market crash in 1987, government moved towards

more regulation (intervention) and PAT lost some of its appeal
The Role of Accounting Research in Supporting
28
Existing Social Structures
(Critical Interpretation of Increased Accounting Regulation: Post-Enron)

 Following large-scale and highly-publicized accounting failures (Enron,

WorldCom and so on) @ 2001-02:
 Public-reliability on accounting practices and capital market mechanisms was
reduced (Unerman & O’Dwyer, 2004)
 US government’s anti-regulation stance was reversed, and they were forced to
increase the regulations regarding accounting practices & corporate governance
 Critical view: increase in regulations came through to serve the needs of the large
companies; since, it was aimed to sustain investors’ trust in the capital market, on
which these companies rely

 Critical researchers: accounting failures around the world is an outcome of the

instability of the capitalist system and the only way to prevent such failures is to
replace the capitalist system, in which the weak (employees, environment & so
on) are not exploited by the powerful (large companies & governments)
The Role of Accounting Research in Supporting
Existing Social Structures 29
(Critical Accounting view on the Role of Academic and Non-
academic Discourse in Protecting Capitalism)

 Editors of accounting journals reject researches that are not aligned with the
exiting social environment (Mouck, 1992)

 Accounting Review judge the worthiness of a paper (and hence research funds)
based on its alignment with the capitalist- needs (Tinker, Lehman, Neimark, 1991)

 Associated organizations (non-academic) in the corporate sector tend to justify

the existing business & accounting practices with propagandas (Collison, 2003)

 Conclusion: Accounting is being used as a tool to ‘objectify’ subjective views

The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
30
Existing Social Structures
(Conceptual Framework’s effectiveness and Accounting Profession)

 Critical view: Even if it is claimed that IASB’s ‘conceptual framework (CF)’ aids in
objective representation of economic facts; actually, it tends to legitimize
accounting profession and financial statements (Hines, 1991):
 Accounts prepared based on CF are considered as ‘normal’

 CF based projects don’t lead towards a successful set of accounting standards, that
may uphold the informational qualities mentioned @ the very CF

 Accountants are endorsed as having ‘measurement expertise’ (largely based on the

CF), that aids in the said legitimation process of the financial statements and the
accounting profession itself
The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
31
Existing Social Structures
(Role of Accounting statements in creating a Selective ‘Reality’)

 Accountants impose their own views regarding which corporate performance-

factor is important (ex: profits) and which is not (ex: social/environmental
externalities) and offer selected disclosures based on that (Hines, 1988)

 These imposed factors become means of differentiating ‘good’ (profitable

companies) organizations from the ‘bad’ ones and other externalities are ignored
 When externalities are ignored, costs related to pollution (and so on) is not present in
statements and to many people such costs become non-existent/immaterial

 If Accountant post pollution-costs @ statements, then it becomes ‘real’ to stakeholders

 So, In communicating reality accountants simultaneously construct reality (Hines,

1988)
The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
32
Existing Social Structures
(Role of Accounting statements in creating a Selective ‘Reality’)

 Accounting offers a ‘selective visibility’ and dictates which financial issues are
significant (Carpenter & Feroz, 1992)

 Such biased portrayal (mostly) favors management and providers of capital

(Mackintosh and Baker, 2002)

 To end such biasness, accounting reports should offer information of varied

categories, so that stakeholders can visualize a contradictory/alternative sets of
‘reality’ and single partisan view of the business is not ‘forced’ (Macintosh, 2001)
The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
33
Existing Social Structures
(The Power of Accountants through a False-image of ‘Neutrality’)

 Accountants are considered as being ‘objective’ and ‘neutral’ (Carpenter and

Feroz, 1992):
 They are considered so objective that they are considered as ‘dull’ individual
 Behind this ‘dullness’ hides a great deal of ‘social power’

 Because of accounting’s/accountant’s perceived objectivity/neutrality, output

of accounting system (ex: profit/loss) can be used as a justification for
undertaking certain actions (ex: laying off employees following a loss) that may
cause hardship for weak groups (Broadbent, 2002)

 When, accounting standards are evaluated/vouched for considering their

economic consequences, it is difficult to imagine accounting / accounting
profession as a truly objective and neutral entity
The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
34
Existing Social Structures
(A Critical Accounting perspective of Accounting & Legitimation)

 Accounting practices ‘silently’ and ‘stealthily’ reinforce capitalist power:

 Legitimacy Theory: Organizations use documents (ex: annual report) to legitimize the
ongoing existence of the entity and to respect the ‘social contract’ (Chapter-08)
 Such legitimation is harmful and is a barrier to enlightenment (Puxty, 1991)
 Companies use social/environmental disclosures to legitimize their behaviors and
(mostly) legitimizing disclosures are linked to ‘corporate survival’ (management
control) and positively correlated to community concern (Deegan, Rankin & Tobin, 2002)

 Political Economy stance: Accounting reports are social/political/economic

documents; these serve as a tool for constructing/sustaining/legitimizing
economic/political/social arrangements (Guthrie & Parker, 1990)
The Role of Accounting practice in Supporting
35
Existing Social Structures
(The Role of Accounting in Legitimizing the Capitalist System)

 The key role of accounting reports is to legitimize and protect the capitalist system
 Therefore, many critical accounting scholars are opposed to much research into
corporate social reporting (CSR)

 There were empirical researches to understand the said legitimizing properties of

accounting reports:
 Voluntary and discursive materials in the annual reports were adapted aligning with the
challenges faced by capitalism, sourcing from its structural instability
 Ex: reduction in consumer demand: ‘Buying a new car regularly is an ideal social norm’
 Ex: labor militancy: ‘Its better for the workers to cooperate with the managers rather
than to engage in conflict
 The repetitive nature and censoring (auditing) process of accounting reports make
these the most effective and acceptable (Tinker, Lehman and Neimark, 1991)
Criticizing the Role of Critical Accounting Researchers in
Creating Change 36

 Accepted role of critical analysis:

 To identify problems in the existing structures and processes (ex: accounting research/
practices)
 To create positive social change, (ultimately) leading towards a ‘fairer society’ that
doesn’t undermine the requirements of the less-powerful
❑ However, these would require constructive engagement with broad cross-section of
people; merely highlighting the problem won’t suffice

 Sadly, critical researchers have some drawbacks hindering them from fulfilling the
said roles (Cooper, 2002):
 Language: They write theoretical pieces in academic (difficult) language which hardly
anyone reads and are unintelligible to outsiders (non-academics)
❑ Accessibility/coverage: They fight against the exclusion of some less-powerful
members of the society; however, ironically, since their write-ups are difficult to
understand for outsiders, these are also exclusionary in nature PTO
Criticizing the Role of Critical Accounting Researchers in
Creating Change 37

 Critical researchers’ drawbacks (Cooper, 2002) (Continued…):

 Intellectual pessimism: They don’t seem to believe in the possibility of social change
and certainly never strive to change the world
 Lack of social-engagement: They concentrate on theory alone (limited to office and
academic conference), which are (mostly) deviated from the contemporary social
movements
 They may lack empirical knowledge regarding their research/interested area

 However, there are positive instances, also:

 Language/accessibility issue: Bourdieu and his colleagues set up a publishing house
and produced reasonably priced & accessible books covering various issues, that
reached to a wide audience (Wolfreys, 2000)
 Social-engagement issue: There are groups in Germany, Belgium and France who
have a network of militant think-tanks & association, fighting against negativities of
capitalism (Cooper, 2002)
Concluding Remarks
38
 Critical Accounting researchers believe that:
 Mainstream research/researchers/accounting practices are not taking stands against
the structural/social problems and instead of supporting the cause of the less-
powerful they are supporting the capitalists (shareholders) and corporate managers
 They have also regarded social/environmental accounting researchers as
mainstream accounting researchers, unless they vouch for social change
❑ However, critical accounting researchers’ language is not understood by all, and
they (mostly) don’t engage actively in the social-structure alternation process
(exceptions are there too)

 PAT/capital market-based researchers don’t thrive for social change (Why…?):

 Interestingly, these endeavors are backed by an economic assumption that,
individual takes rational decisions based on ‘self-interest’; therefore, in a sense, such
researchers can’t be accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for not undertaking efforts benefitting
others
 Sometimes, mainstream researchers (who are often publicly funded) are forced to
abide by their central role related to the funds they receive and are also evaluated
by the extent to which they are fulfilling their central role