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Building on the notes prepared for a roundtable organized by qualitative research in accounting & management (QRAM) about the paper titled “Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory” (Vollmer, 2019), this paper aims to extend our understanding of “tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts” and its implications for research on accounting as a social practice.

Building on a selective review of previous studies of accounting “in action” and one illustrative vignette, this paper teases out specific aspects of Vollmer’s argument, which is much broader and ambitious in nature. The aim is to go deeper on one issue – “tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts” and the role of (accounting) practitioners as “stewards of silence” – to encourage further work that unpacks the dynamics and tensions that occur when practitioners seek to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts.

This paper shows how our understanding of the relationship between “tacit coordination” and the “passing of accounts” can be enriched by examining how (accounting) practitioners deal with pressures towards explication. To this end, this paper develops three propositions, which focus on how organizational status, organizational complexity and temporal dynamics may affect the extent to which (accounting) practitioners are able to tacitly coordinate towards the passing of accounts.

The three propositions presented in this paper can be used in future studies to further explore the dynamics of tacit coordination towards the passing of accounts and therefore contribute to a more fine-grained illustration of some of the ideas presented in the paper by Vollmer (2019).

This paper sketches the contours of an approach that has the potential to make some of the ambitious ideas presented in Vollmer’s paper more actionable in future studies.

The purpose of this paper is primarily methodological. This paper aims to complement the novel sociological argument of Hendrik Vollmer’s paper on tacit coordination of accounting practices with a more familiar theory of accounting practice nexuses that has been stimulating an emerging stream of accounting research. The intention is to suggest some ways in which Vollmer’s ideas can be given traction, especially in field studies of accounting.

This study uses Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory to explore some of the ways in which elements of tacit coordination might be researched in accounting field studies.

Tacit coordination can be understood as a background practice that could operate as a dispersed practice in Schatzki’s sense. A practice theory perspective on tacit coordination is suggestive of a number of ways of studying the meaningful cultural contexts as part of which accounting operates. It emphasises, in particular, the active nature of silent, tacit coordination; attending to general knowledge practical know-how, rules and teleoaffectivity as four determinants of practices as specified by Schatzki; and the materiality of coordination.

It has implications for field research insofar as it heightens the researcher’s awareness of tacit coordination as a potentially important set of practices and suggests a number of approaches for studying them. The main suggestions address some of the ways in which tacit coordination can be identified in field research.

This study reflects on the dispersed or integrated nature of tacit coordination practices in accounting.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual reflection based on the author’s personal research experience, reading of the literature and contact with the academic education of emerging scholars.

In this reflection on the paper “Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory” (Vollmer, 2019), the author argues that the silences of the qualitative empirical management accounting research process may preclude research from understanding the silences of accounting practitioners and shape the trajectory of the discipline as a whole.

The author presents a slightly exaggerated depiction of the qualitative empirical management accounting research process. From this, the author infers what impedes empirically studying unorthodox phenomena such as the silences of accounting practitioners.

The author offers a critical perspective on the author’s own research process, using accounting silences as way of reflecting on the potential and limitations of empirical research. Finally, the author makes tentative suggestions for opening up the standard research process.

In the first article in this series Dr Vollmer, Labour Attaché at the Federal German Embassy in London, described the German system of worker participation and representation on supervisory boards and works councils. The article was entitled The German Model, 1973. We opened our series with this article because it is the most lucid and comprehensive account of the German model we have yet come across and it has the stamp of unimpeachable authority. However, that article was, and was intended to be, an idealised account of the system by an enthusiast for it. We invited Mr Dewi‐Davies Jones, a British authority on industrial relations in Europe, to comment on Dr Vollmer's idealised account from two points of view: is there a gap between Dr Vollmer's account and the way it works out in practice; and what, if any, are the obstacles to the adoption of the German model in Britain?

The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on accounting’s performativity by developing a ventriloquial perspective that directs the attention to the reciprocity between the accounting signs and the accountants: they both do things by making each other speak. This oscillation explains where accounting number’s authority, materiality and resistance come from.

In order to show the relevance of this approach, the authors examine various ways numbers manage to speak or do things in the context of video-recorded conversations taken from fieldwork completed with Médecins sans frontières (also known as Doctors without Borders) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The analyses show how this ventriloquial perspective can inform the way the authors interpret what happens: when numbers do not say the same thing; when numbers are competing with other figures; and when numbers backfire on their own promoters.

Even if some of the numbers studied are sometimes far from accounting per se, it shows how the absence or presence of accounting can make a difference.

The authors then discuss the implications of this research for accounting social innovation through accounting inscriptions.

This perspective helps to understand that numbers can give great power, but that everything cannot be told with numbers. This is why making numbers speak is a great talent.

This refreshing perspective on accounting could be extended to other fields such as auditing and auditing.

Drawing on over two decades of studying and researching police recruitment, selection, and training, a correlation of the three prongs to professional policing in a democratic society is established.

The author overviews the current approaches to professional policing through an analysis of a statement made by a legendary chief of police August Vollmer, who is credited with the inception of the era of “professional policing.”

The transition from a young adult and inexperienced adult into a life-and-death decision maker needs to take into consideration a host of characteristics identified by Vollmer. These characteristics cannot be found nor honed within the current recruitment, selection, and training practices of American police departments.

This chapter provides an analysis of the required skills and characteristics necessary to hone and develop a professional police officer in a democratic society.

This paper aims to offer a reflection on the alliance between accounting theory and social research in general, focussing on the conjunction of accounting theory and ethnography in particular.

The author builds on Stefan Hirschauer’s methodological reflections on ethnography and the “silence of the social” to briefly re-articulate some of the ideas the author had associated, in an earlier piece, with the investigation of tacit coordination in accounting.

Ethnography is an intrinsically theoretical practice and also a particular form of accounting. As such, it presents a paradigm case for how accounting theory builds on, and emerges from, social research in joint efforts of breaking the silence of the social. Ethnographic research, like the practice of accounting and social research more generally, is associated with a stewardship of silence and an “ethics of mattering” (Karen Barad), and accounting theory is an invitation to reflect on the underlying practices of (dis-)articulation.

The paper invites readers to engage with accounting practice as a topic of systematic theoretical interest in exploring how we put the world on the record, understand the choices we make in the process and the silences we let lie.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a systematic review that examined police social work and social service collaboration strategies implemented to address social problems.

A systematic review was conducted to identify the components of police social work and social service collaboration strategies. A total of 11 databases were searched. The inclusion criteria centered on the social problem, focus population, service providers, collaboration components and geographic location. Any methodological approach was included provided that a collaboration between police and social service providers focused on addressing a social problem was implemented and described.

The database searches identified 3,065 hits. After first eliminating duplicate titles, then reviewing and eliminating titles and abstracts that did not met the inclusion criteria, 119 full-text studies were reviewed. Among the 81 studies included in the systematic review, 83 implemented collaborations were found. The most collaborations were implemented in the USA, whereas only one implemented collaboration was found among the majority of the countries. Interpersonal violence was the most frequent social problem addressed by the collaborations followed by mental illness, crime, juvenile delinquency, and alcohol and substance use and abuse. Interventions were predominantly delivered by social workers who provided referrals and collaboration with social service agencies that assisted adults.

Given that police officers are first responders to a wide range of social problems, investigating and disseminating information about the characteristics of police social service collaboration strategies is an important endeavor. Whereas investigating the effectiveness of collaborations was not the aim of this review, several practical implications can be derived from the findings. These findings show the types of social problems, partners and tasks that comprise the collaborations. The present findings suggest that law enforcement agencies do not have accessible name brand social work and social service collaboration models that can be replicated. The majority of the collaborations found appear to be unique models implemented between law enforcement and social service agencies. More outcome studies are needed that investigate whether the social problem has improved among citizens that received services from the collaboration.

This paper is the first systematic review focused on police social work and social service collaboration strategies implemented to address social problems.

Community policing provides an opportunity to embrace a form of justice very different, and potentially more effective in controlling deviance, than our traditional concepts relating to crime control. Limiting community policing’s full potential is a lack of academic and practitioner articulation of the two divergent themes embedded in the concept, defined here as the compliance model and the internalization models of justice. Examples from the tenures of Anthony Bouza, August Vollmer and Lee P. Brown, and a case study of Oakland, California illustrate the lack of articulation. Appropriate responses capable of making internalization synonymous with community policing policy and practice receive discussion.

Amid multiple crises and increasing volatility, sustainable development is a pressing concern. Higher Education for Sustainable Development, especially Responsible Management Education (RME), drives transformative change by fostering new perspectives on work, decision-making and leadership. Conferences serve as pivotal sustainability discussion platforms, yet many remain traditional and lack interactive student engagement. This hinders active involvement and collaborative problem-solving. The Global Goals Design Jam, a dynamic, nontraditional format explored in this study offers an alternative approach. By blending design thinking and playful learning and constructivist learning methods, the Global Goals Design Jam offers a space for collaborative and creative Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) solutions. At the ninth Responsible Management Education Research Conference (RMERC) in September 2022, students from various universities took part in a Global Goals Design Jam. The current prestudy postulates that participation in a Global Goals Design Jam is primarily associated with positive attributes related to emotions and a sense of coherence. The potential for empowering learners to navigate real-world complexities and contribute to sustainability is highlighted, establishing formats like the Global Goals Design Jam as a valuable addition to educational conferences with a sustainability focus. The results also highlight potentials and limitations of the format and provide insights into further research requirements.