Dealing with the visibility created by accounting numbers – A case study of cost accounting translation in a transitional economy
Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies
ISSN: 2042-1168
Article publication date: 23 April 2020
Issue publication date: 15 May 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the process of translating a costing tool into operational use in the context of a transitional (post-communist) economy, where local institutions challenge the rationality of western methods.
Design/methodology/approach
By mobilizing Actor–Network Theory, in particular Callon's four moments of translation, and by drawing data from an interventionist research, the paper focuses on the process of change instilled by the implementation of a costing tool in 20 Romanian construction companies.
Findings
The costing system is initially problematized as a tool for rational decision making. However, the visibility over the accounting figures generated by the costing tool instilled new roles for the cost system to manage internal and external interdependencies. First, two costing datasets were created, one for decision making and one for tax purposes, to manage the relationship with the state taxation authorities. Second, since the costing tool generated visibility over the field practices as well, engineers convinced management to drop the decision-making set of costs. The costing tool ultimately only became used for tax optimization, an originally unintended use, reflecting its translation process.
Research limitations/implications
By taking an interventionist approach, the paper contributes to theorizing accounting in transitional economies by bringing their economic idiosyncrasies into the analysis.
Practical implications
The results inform managers about the intended and unintended consequences of management accounting tools and about actors' role in shaping their use.
Originality/value
Our research responds to recent calls to study how organizations configure their control systems in a rapidly changing environment and what is the role of management accounting in these arrangements.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Previous versions of this paper were presented at the Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, 10–12 July 2011, Clearwater, USA; the American Accounting Association Western Region meeting, 25–27 April 2013, San Francisco, USA; the European Accounting Association 40th annual congress, 10–12 May 2017, Valencia, Spain. We would like to thank all reviewers and delegates for their constructive comments and suggestions. We also thank the Editor (Shahzad Uddin) and the two anonymous journal reviewers for their very constructive feedback. All infelicities remain our own.
Citation
Albu, C.N., Albu, N., Guinea, F.A. and Tsamenyi, M. (2020), "Dealing with the visibility created by accounting numbers – A case study of cost accounting translation in a transitional economy", Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 277-303. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAEE-02-2018-0015
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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