The emergence of an accounting practice: The fabrication of a government accrual accounting system
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 21 May 2018
Issue publication date: 21 May 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to add to our understanding of the nature of accrual accounting by examining the process involved in its construction, as a dynamic and controversial process. This paper reveals how it is built and constantly modified, reinforced or negated during the process of implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper’s focus on a government initiative with multiple actors present in the laboratory. Specifically, this study offers a close examination of the day-to-day activities of a laboratory case study; it focuses on participant observation in video conference calls. The discussions held by the project teams are analyzed to extend our inquiry into the most intimate aspects of fact construction (Latour and Woolgar, 1979). These excerpts illustrate the processes of accrual accounting construction and open up the possibility of studying the emergence of accrual accounting through the lens of an action net.
Findings
The evidence collected reveals the absence of a well-defined template for implementing accrual accounting in government. These results reveal an elaborate process of improvisation and fabrication in the design of this accounting system and a fragile network in action.
Originality/value
Prior research on accrual accounting in government focuses on the examination of existing accrual accounting systems with somewhat puzzling results on lack of use. In this study, the perspective has been shifted from focusing on accrual accounting as self-evident (Lapsley et al., 2009) to examine its construction. This paper examines this tension between the apparent certainties as espoused by practitioners and the problematic nature of accrual accounting in government. It extends our knowledge of “black box accrual accounting,” and shows that it is a fluid object with significant discretion in the determination of practice.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Doings of practitioners: public sector accountants in the 21st Century”.
Citation
Bruno, A. and Lapsley, I. (2018), "The emergence of an accounting practice: The fabrication of a government accrual accounting system", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 1045-1066. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-01-2016-2400
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited