1. Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice (22 E 13000)
Professor Juhani Vaivio
Dr. Terhi Chakhovich
September / October 2017

2. We are within organizations – but also beyond organizations, in institutions and in society at large.  The context of accounting.
Accounting is more than neutral “reporting of facts” in economic life  A way to intervene into and transform various entities. What appears as something merely technical is actually something very social.
Accounting as shaping possibilities of action.  a particular visibility.
A body of expertise that comes into contact with other bodies of expertise.
Translating qualities into quantities.  Making comparable, governing and managing.
Accounting’s claimed objectivity produces legitimacy.

3. Accounting practices include particular discourses, vocabularies and rationales  The mobilization of accounting.
The political interests around accounting representations.
 setting accounting standards, regulation.
Accounting as a key part in the “myth structure” of rationalized societies (Meyer & Rowan, 1977).  Organizations incorporate rational conceptions of organizing and managing: The ceremonial aspects of accounting.
See Peter Miller: Accounting as social and institutional practice - an introduction.

4. Course Syllabus After this introductory session, we meet five times.
Professor Vaivio on September 21st, September 28th and October 5th.
Dr. Chakhovich on October 5th , October 12th and October 19th.
We act more like tutors than traditional instructors.
In each session, we discuss two scientific papers together.
You will prepare for each session by studying the papers in small teams of 3-4 students. + Preparation of individual written assignment on indicated papers.
Grading: Final exam 50%: short essays on course material and our discussions in class. Participation in classroom discussion 50%. Passed exam necessary for grading. + Accepted written assignment.

5. The papers Session 1 (September 21st)
Meyer, J.W. & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology.
Miller, P. & O’Leary, T. (1987). Accounting and the construction of the governable person. Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Session 2 (September 28th)
Jordan, S. & Messner, M. (2012). Enabling control and the problem of incomplete performance indicators. Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Rowe, C., Shields, M. and Birnberg, J. (2012). Hardening soft accounting information: Games for planning organizational change. Accounting, Organizations and Society.

6. Session 3 (October 5th)
Burchell, S., Clubb, C., Hopwood, A., Hughes, J. and Nahapiet, J. (1980). The roles of accounting in organizations and society. Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Hines, R. (1988). Financial accounting: In communicating reality, we construct reality. Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Session 4 (October 12th)
Granlund, M. (2001). Towards explaining stability in and around management accounting systems. Management Accounting Research.
Hopper, T. & Macintosh, N. (1993). Management Accounting as disciplinary practice: the case of ITT under Harold Geneen. Management Accounting Research.

7. Session 5 (October 19th)
Baxter, J. & Chua, W. (2003). Alternative management accounting research – whence and whither? Accounting, Organizations and Society.
Preda, A. (2009). Brief encounters: Calculation and the interaction order of anonymous electronic markets. Accounting, Organizations and Society.