Call for papers – Critical Perspectives on Accounting

Feb 17, 2025
Sep 09, 2023
About

The financialization of daily life: the lived experience of financially responsible behaviour?

Ariane Agunsoye, Pauline Gleadle and Neeta Shah.

In recent decades, as part of the neoliberal turn, risks which used to be carried by the state or the employer are increasingly carried by individuals (Langley, 2006; 2008). State pensions have been reduced up to the degree of solely providing poverty relief and workplace pensions have changed from providing a guaranteed income during retirement to basing pension income on investment returns earned throughout the contribution period – transferring the responsibility for having adequate retirement income from the employer to the employee (James, 2021). To deal with these newly acquired financial risks, the financially responsible individual is expected to conduct regular investments throughout their lifetime, embrace risk management strategies (Maman and Rosenhek, 2020) and by means of this, build a diversified asset portfolio which serves as an income source during non-working periods (Agunsoye, 2021; Langley, 2006, 2008; Strauss, 2008). This has been referred to as the financialization of daily life where “citizens must now take individual responsibility over financial futures”, requiring “new identities and forms of calculations” (Froud et al., 2007, p.340) and resulting in financial concepts entering into more and more aspects of everyday life.

This is of serious concern, given that the ongoing process of everyday financialization is widely recognized in the literature as a redistribution process in which individuals rather than other stakeholders (such as the state, employers or shareholders) find themselves on the losing side of financialization (Barradas, 2019; Gleadle et al., 2014; Palladino, 2020; Van der Zwan, 2014). “Without significant capital, people are asked to think like capitalists” (Martin, 2002, p.43) and conduct continued pension investments, disadvantaging people with differential life histories as evidenced once again during the recent pandemic. Not only has income inequality risen substantially, exceeding the distributional effects from previous pandemics, recessions and financial crises (Furceri and Pizzuto, 2021) but also it is predominantly women who have taken up the increase in caring work and minority ethnic groups who have suffered relatively more from a fall in employment (Madgavkar et al., 2021; TUC, 2021).

This is where the proposed special issue seeks to make its mark. By moving beyond identifying deviations from financially responsible behaviour and suggesting individual solutions such as financial education as remedy, we call for more radically conceived contributions. These might display the potential for rethinking our understanding of the lived experience of financially responsible behaviour, in situations where everyday financial practices might be recognized as logical responses to an increasingly unequal society. In view of such concerns, we welcome papers adopting a variety of perspectives. Possible topics include:

Financial literacy programmes are often heralded as a cure for such apparently divergent financial practices (Lusardi and Mitchell, 2014), with even secondary schools now offering financial education (FinCap, 2019); whilst other approaches (Bay et al., 2014) stress that financial literacy as a concept is itself context dependant rather than being constituted as an invariable list of skills. Maman and Rosenhek (2020, p. 303) even argue that the very project of the responsibilization of the individual for their own personal financial well-being “presumes a world in which calculative subjects can estimate and manage future (financial market) risks […] rather than (viewing them) as a site of fundamental uncertainty.” Given such arguments, we welcome papers adopting a critical approach to the concept of financial literacy.

Cultural norms, life cycle and generational issues are arguably key in understanding how the risks inherent in financialization impact personal finances of individuals, families and communities. Related contributions could include those from a cross-cultural perspective where, for instance, attitudes to care of the elderly may vary substantially from many current Western norms. Such norms which put emphasis on the collective rather than the individual can impact one’s own financial approach (Willows and October, In Press). How does the financialization of daily life impact cultural norms and might practices outside definitions of financially responsible behaviour be equally appropriate? What could these practices look like and how do they impact the future retirement income?

The increasing financialization of care, where elderly and disability care is progressively delivered in highly individualised financial packages requiring participants to self-manage and “choose” between care options and where in the UK, adult social care has become highly financialized with major effects on its largely female workforce (Horton, 2019). Studies of the financialization of death would be welcome, in view for example, of the fact that the average cost of a UK funeral has now risen to £4,000+ (Competition and Markets Authority, 2019, p. 17). How is the financialization of care transforming norms as they relate to care giving?

The gendered aspects of personal finance (Cupak et al., 2020; Grady, 2015; Joseph, 2013) where it has been suggested that women’s personal finance is impacted on the one hand by systemic constraints, such as caring work not being sufficiently recognized within existing welfare systems, and on the other hand by socially constructed gender norms of financial behaviour of men and women. While research has increased in these areas, the lived experience of women in these contexts, their everyday financial practices and their underlying reasoning remain under-explored. Papers could include qualitative research into the impact of gender norms, including norms of financial behaviour and ‘gender-normative’ roles within the household, on the financial practices of women and/or how women navigate their pension savings in a highly unequal welfare system.

Investigating issues around trust/distrust in finance and the existing system, particularly in the view of such developments as the diminished role of UK bank managers, a group previously viewed as trusted pillars of the community (Nayak and Beckett, 2008). Given also the pension scandals in the previous four decades, is it really irrational not to trust financial investments and instead, to search for alternative investments for retirement? In this connection for example, Agunsoye (2021) finds that due to feeling ‘trapped’ in having to provide financial security themselves in the UK, individuals may amend asset norms to their own needs, such that the lived experience of everyday financialization cannot be viewed as a monolithic process. Submissions to this special issue could explore such developments, including changing attitudes of the public to financial institutions.

Exploring neo-colonial practices of everyday financialization. We encourage studies that explore the expansion of financialization across the globe, the ways in which people are recruited into the banking system, and how these financial services are transforming the lived experiences of people in developing countries (Guermond, 2019; Balliester Reis, 2020).

Finally but very importantly, how has the current Covid-19 pandemic changed the lived experience of everyday financialization? Has it changed our approaches to everyday finance? What does the pandemic mean for income and wealth inequality? For instance, during the pandemic governments stepped in to moderate the impact of lockdowns on the economy. In the UK, for example, a stamp duty holiday was introduced. While it was implemented to revive the housing market, it exacerbated existing inequalities where soaring property prices prevent lower income households from entering the property market (Sweney, 2021). Also, as there has been relatively little research to date on ethnic minority groups in the UK in particular (but see Bangham, 2020), further work could investigate how the pandemic coupled with an ongoing everyday financialization has impacted these diverse populations. We encourage submissions to this special issue which explore the interventions of governments internationally during the pandemic and the effects of these on the financialization of daily life.

Submission process

The deadline for submissions to this special issue is 30th of September 2023. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting. It is anticipated that this special issue will be published in 2024-25.

Please direct any enquiries you may have about the special issue, copied to all the editors:

Ariane Agunsoye

Goldsmiths, University of London

Email: A.Agunsoye@gold.ac.uk

Pauline Gleadle

The Open University

Email: Pauline.Gleadle@open.ac.uk\

Neeta Shah

University of Westminster

Email: N.Shah08@westminster.ac.uk

References

Agunsoye, A. (2021) ‘ ”Locked in the Rat Race”: Variegated financial subjectivities in the United Kingdom,’ Environment and Planning A, 53(7), 1828-1848.

Appleyard, A., Rowlingson, K., & Gardner, J. (2016), ‘The variegated financialization of sub-prime credit markets,’ Competition and Change, 20(5), 297-313.

Balliester Reis, T. (2020), ‘Financial inclusion, poverty and income inequality in low- and middle-income countries: A mixed-method investigation,’ PhD Thesis. University of Leeds.

Bangham, G (2020), ‘The gap that won’t close: The distribution of wealth between ethnic groups in Great Britain,’ Resolution Foundation Briefing, December 2020.

Barradas, R. (2019), ‘Financialization and neoliberalism and the fall in the labor share: A panel data econometric analysis for the European Union countries,’ Review of Radical Political Economics, 51(3), 383-417.

Bay, C., Catasus, B., & Johed, G. (2014), ‘Situating financial literacy,’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 25(1):36-45.

Bloodworth, J (2019), ‘Hired: undercover in low-wage Britain,’ London, UK; Atlantic Books Ltd. Competition & Markets Authority (2019), ‘Funeral markets study: final report and decision on a market investigation reference,’ 28th March 2019. Funerals market study (publishing.service.gov.uk) Accessed 20th October 2021.

Cupak, A., Fessler, P., & Schneebaum, A. (2020), ‘Gender differences in risky asset behavior: The importance of self-confidence and financial literacy,’ Finance Research Letters, 1-6.

FinCap (2019), ‘Financial Capability Strategy for the UK,’ https://www.fincap.org.uk/.

Furceri, D., & Pizzuto, P. (2021). Will COVID-19 have long-lasting effects on inequality? Evidence from past pandemics,’ IMF Working Papers, IMF eLibrary ISBN 978 151 358 2375, Publication date 1st May 2021.

Gleadle, P., Haslam, C., & Ping Yin, Y. (2014), ‘Critical accounts and perspectives on financialization,’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 25(1), 1-4.

Gough, O., & Adami, R. (2013), ‘Saving for retirement: a review of ethnic minorities in the UK,’ Social Policy and Society, 12(1), 147-161.

Grady, J. (2015), ‘Gendering pensions: Making women visible,’ Gender, Work and Organization, 22(5), 445–458.

Guermond, V. (2020), ‘Contesting the financialisation of remittances: Repertoires of reluctance, refusal and dissent in Ghana and Senegal,’ Environment and Planning A, 0(0), 1-22.

Horton, A (2019), ‘Financialization and non-disposable women: Real estate, debt and labour in UK care homes,’ Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 0(0) 1–16.

James, H. (2021), ‘Individual pension decision-making in a financialised landscape: a typology of everyday approaches,’ Journal of Cultural Economy, 14(6), 627-643.

Joseph, M. (2013), ‘Gender, entrepreneurial subjectivity, and pathologies of personal finance,’ Social Politics, 20(2), 242-273.

Langley, P (2006), ‘The making of investor subjects in Anglo-American pensions,’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2006, 24, 919 – 934.

Langley, P. (2008), ‘The Everyday Life of Global Finance: Saving and Borrowing in Anglo-America,’ Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O.S. (2014), ‘The economic importance of financial literacy: Theory and Evidence,’ Journal of Economic Literature, 52(1), 5-44.

Madgavkar, A., White, O., Krishnan, M., Mahajan, D., & Azcue, X (2021), ‘COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects,’ https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-

insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects.

Maman, D & Rosenhek, Z (2020), ‘Facing future uncertainties and risks through personal finance: conventions in financial education,’ Journal of Cultural Economy, 13(3), 303 – 317.

Martin, R. (2002), ‘Financialization of Daily Life,’ Philadelphia, USA: Temple University Press.

Nayak, A and Beckett, A (2008), ‘Infantilized adults or confident consumers: enterprise discourse in the UK banking industry,’ Organization, 15, (3), 407-425. ONS (2020), ‘Household wealth by ethnicity, Great Britain: April 2016 to March 2018,’

Mader, P. (2015), ‘The Political Economy of Microfinance: Financializing Poverty,’ London, UK: Palgrave.

Maman, D., & Rosenhek, Z. (2020), ‘Facing future uncertainties and risks through personal finance: conventions in financial education,’ Journal of Cultural Economy, 13(3), 303-317.

Palladino, L. (2020), ‘Financialization at work: Shareholder primacy and stagnant wages in the United States,’ Competition and Change, 25(3-4), 1-19.

Standing, G. (2011), ‘The precariat: The new dangerous class,’ London, UK: Bloomsbury Press.

Strauss, K. (2008), ‘Re-engaging with Rationality in Economic Geography: Behavioural Approaches and the Importance in Decision-making,’ Journal of Economic Geography, 8(2),137-156l.

Sweney, M (2021)‘UK house prices show strongest monthly rise since 2007,’ The Guardian, 7th October 2021. Accessed 7th November 2021.

UK house prices show strongest monthly rise since 2007 | House prices | The Guardian

TUC (2021), ‘BME unemployment is rising twice as fast as white workers during the pandemic,’ https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-bme-unemployment-rising-twice-fast-white-workers-during-pandemic.

Van der Zwan, N. (2014), ‘Making sense of financialization,’ Socio-Economic Review, 12(1), 99-129.

Willows, GD and October, C (In Press), ‘Perceptions of retirement savings: Through the lens of black amaXhosa women in South Africa,’ Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Available online 14th October, 2021.

 

23 August 2021

Southern Accounts – Critical Perspectives On Accounting

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

Special issue

Southern Accounts

Guest editors:

Daniel Martinez, HEC Paris, martinez@hec.fr

Dean Neu, York University, dneu@schulich.yorku.ca

Abu Rahaman, University of Calgary, abu.rahaman@haskayne.ucalgary.ca

Fernanda Sauerbronn, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, fernanda.sauerbronn@facc.ufrj.br

Despite our belief in a ‘community of critical accounting scholars’, critical accounting scholarship is partitioned, bounded and stratified in many of the same ways that are other forms of academic research. Critical accounting research is bounded by what counts as acceptable research, by the theorists that it must engage with, and by how research must be positioned to be deemed to make a contribution (Gendron & Rodrigue, 2019). This special issue is a call to break these boundaries and to engage with the ‘South’ on its own terms.

The special issue aspires to be part of a larger program of “epistemic disobedience” (Quijano, 1992; Mignolo, 2011) that exposes us to “alternatives of inquiry and forms of engagement” (Sauerbronn et al., in press) and that challenges the colonial legacies that inform the production of accounting research. Our objective is to incite research that is sensitive to the lived experiences and research traditions that abound in the South and to encourage conversations about what counts as useful research. For the special issue editors, the notion of useful includes research that explicitly considers how accounting ‘works’ in non-North settings. Similarly, research that starts from conceptual and methodological traditions whose genealogy is not tethered to the canonical texts of Western thought creates the opportunity to move beyond the all-to-common North-South, center-periphery knowledge relationships. Finally, research that explicitly makes visible the ‘biases’ of North-centric research offers an important corrective to prevailing norms of critical accounting research. Stated simply, the special issue is a call to decolonize accounting and to expose critical accounting research to forms of injurious engagement that are under-valued and underrepresented within our community.

While our call aims to decolonize and destabilize critical accounting research, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, since its first editorial three decades ago, has sought to encourage these very sorts of research and to provide a space for “new forms of dialogue and tolerance;” and for research that is “eclectic and interdisciplinary” (Cooper & Tinker, 1990). This call for papers on the South is both a continuation of these efforts and a call to do critical accounting research differently.

Submissions that engage with Southern accounts in all its forms are welcome. We are open to submissions that investigate any type of setting and engage with any intellectual and research tradition from the South. Authors should also not feel obliged to justify the significance of the research tradition by referencing North-specific canonical texts, problematics, and definitions of accounting. More specifically, the special issue is an opportunity for authors to share the ecosystem of concepts, epistemologies, methodologies, literatures, oral traditions, and practices that are part of their critical accounting research tradition with the international critical accounting community.

Workshop

We expect to hold an online workshop in June 2022. Authors interested in submitting their article to the workshop can contact the guest editors and submit a draft by April 8, 2022. Articles selected to present at the workshop will be invited to submit a revised version to the special issue and follow the normal review process. Participation in the workshop is however not mandatory for submission to the special issue.

Submission process

The deadline for submissions to this special issue is December 30, 2022. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting. Given the aim of the special issue, papers can be submitted in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or French (please contact the editors if you want to submit in a language other than these). Once the manuscript has gone through the review process and been selected for publication in the special issue, its authors will need to translate it into English before publication. The translation to English will be at the authors’ expense. It is expected that the quality of the translation will meet proper standards and will as such be subject to a validation process by the editors. While the English version of the manuscript will be published in the special issue, the submission in its original language will be published as supplementary online material. More information on the journal’s language policy can be found in Andrew, Cooper, and Gendron (2020).

It is anticipated that this special issue will be published in 2024-25.

Please direct any enquiries you may have about the special issue to all the editors:

References

Andrew, J., Cooper, C., & Gendron, Y. (2020). Addressing the English language hegemony problem in academia: An ongoing experiment and preliminary policy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting69, Article 102127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2019.102127

Cooper, D. J., & Tinker, T. (1990). Editorial. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1(1), 1–3.

Gendron, Y., & Rodrigue, M. (2019). On the centrality of peripheral research and the dangers of tight boundary gatekeeping. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1–17. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2019.02.003

Mignolo, W. D. (2011). Epistemic disobedience and the decolonial option: A manifesto. Transmodernity (Fall), 44-66.

Quijano, A. (1992). Colonialidad y modernidad/racionalidad. Perú Indígena, 13(29), 11-20

Sauerbronn, F. F., Ayres, R. M., da Silva, C. M., & Lourenço, R. L. (in press). Decolonial studies in accounting? Emerging contributions from Latin America. Critical Perspectives on Accountinghttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102281

23 August 2021

Southern Accounts – Critical Perspectives On Accounting

Critical Perspectives on Accounting

Special issue

Southern Accounts

Guest editors:

Daniel Martinez, HEC Paris, martinez@hec.fr

Dean Neu, York University, dneu@schulich.yorku.ca

Abu Rahaman, University of Calgary, abu.rahaman@haskayne.ucalgary.ca

Fernanda Sauerbronn, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, fernanda.sauerbronn@facc.ufrj.br

Despite our belief in a ‘community of critical accounting scholars’, critical accounting scholarship is partitioned, bounded and stratified in many of the same ways that are other forms of academic research. Critical accounting research is bounded by what counts as acceptable research, by the theorists that it must engage with, and by how research must be positioned to be deemed to make a contribution (Gendron & Rodrigue, 2019). This special issue is a call to break these boundaries and to engage with the ‘South’ on its own terms.

The special issue aspires to be part of a larger program of “epistemic disobedience” (Quijano, 1992; Mignolo, 2011) that exposes us to “alternatives of inquiry and forms of engagement” (Sauerbronn et al., in press) and that challenges the colonial legacies that inform the production of accounting research. Our objective is to incite research that is sensitive to the lived experiences and research traditions that abound in the South and to encourage conversations about what counts as useful research. For the special issue editors, the notion of useful includes research that explicitly considers how accounting ‘works’ in non-North settings. Similarly, research that starts from conceptual and methodological traditions whose genealogy is not tethered to the canonical texts of Western thought creates the opportunity to move beyond the all-to-common North-South, center-periphery knowledge relationships. Finally, research that explicitly makes visible the ‘biases’ of North-centric research offers an important corrective to prevailing norms of critical accounting research. Stated simply, the special issue is a call to decolonize accounting and to expose critical accounting research to forms of injurious engagement that are under-valued and underrepresented within our community.

While our call aims to decolonize and destabilize critical accounting research, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, since its first editorial three decades ago, has sought to encourage these very sorts of research and to provide a space for “new forms of dialogue and tolerance;” and for research that is “eclectic and interdisciplinary” (Cooper & Tinker, 1990). This call for papers on the South is both a continuation of these efforts and a call to do critical accounting research differently.

Submissions that engage with Southern accounts in all its forms are welcome. We are open to submissions that investigate any type of setting and engage with any intellectual and research tradition from the South. Authors should also not feel obliged to justify the significance of the research tradition by referencing North-specific canonical texts, problematics, and definitions of accounting. More specifically, the special issue is an opportunity for authors to share the ecosystem of concepts, epistemologies, methodologies, literatures, oral traditions, and practices that are part of their critical accounting research tradition with the international critical accounting community.

Workshop

We expect to hold an online workshop in June 2022. Authors interested in submitting their article to the workshop can contact the guest editors and submit a draft by April 8, 2022. Articles selected to present at the workshop will be invited to submit a revised version to the special issue and follow the normal review process. Participation in the workshop is however not mandatory for submission to the special issue.

Submission process

The deadline for submissions to this special issue is December 30, 2022. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting. Given the aim of the special issue, papers can be submitted in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or French (please contact the editors if you want to submit in a language other than these). Once the manuscript has gone through the review process and been selected for publication in the special issue, its authors will need to translate it into English before publication. The translation to English will be at the authors’ expense. It is expected that the quality of the translation will meet proper standards and will as such be subject to a validation process by the editors. While the English version of the manuscript will be published in the special issue, the submission in its original language will be published as supplementary online material. More information on the journal’s language policy can be found in Andrew, Cooper, and Gendron (2020).

It is anticipated that this special issue will be published in 2024-25.

Please direct any enquiries you may have about the special issue to all the editors:

References

 

Andrew, J., Cooper, C., & Gendron, Y. (2020). Addressing the English language hegemony problem in academia: An ongoing experiment and preliminary policy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting69, Article 102127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2019.102127

Cooper, D. J., & Tinker, T. (1990). Editorial. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1(1), 1–3.

Gendron, Y., & Rodrigue, M. (2019). On the centrality of peripheral research and the dangers of tight boundary gatekeeping. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1–17. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2019.02.003

Mignolo, W. D. (2011). Epistemic disobedience and the decolonial option: A manifesto. Transmodernity (Fall), 44-66.

Quijano, A. (1992). Colonialidad y modernidad/racionalidad. Perú Indígena, 13(29), 11-20

Sauerbronn, F. F., Ayres, R. M., da Silva, C. M., & Lourenço, R. L. (in press). Decolonial studies in accounting? Emerging contributions from Latin America. Critical Perspectives on Accountinghttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102281

17 February 2021

Critical Perspectives on Accounting in Italian – English version (updated April 2022)

Update on Preliminary workshop: the workshop related to this Special Issue will be held online. Please see the ‘Preliminary workshop’ section below for details.

Critical Perspectives on Accounting in Italian

Guest editors

Michele Bigoni, University of Kent (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk)

Laura Maran, RMIT University (laura.maran@rmit.edu.au)

Giovanna Michelon, University of Bristol (giovanna.michelon@bristol.ac.uk)

Massimo Sargiacomo, Università degli Studi “Gabriele D’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara (msargiacomo@unich.it)

Journal rankings and impact measures in the form of citation scores are now global and are increasingly used by universities, governments and funding bodies for purposes which range from staff retention and promotion to research quality assessment and funding allocation (Wilmott, 2011; Parker & Guthrie, 2013; Picard et al., 2019). Italy is no exception and different journal rankings have been developed with the purpose of providing academics with clear guidance on the outlets in which high-quality research should be published. The “List of Class A Journals” compiled by the Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR – Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes) has become particularly popular because it is used for awarding professorships and for Ministerial accreditation of Doctoral programmes (ANVUR, 2020). The List simply ranks journals on the basis of inclusion or not, and only journals which are in the List are seen as ‘top-quality’. Unsurprisingly in light of current English language hegemonic power over academia (Hagège, 2012; Andrew et al., 2020), all the journals rated as ‘top’ are published in English. This in turn further reinforces the process of ‘Englishization’ of academia whereby particular forms of knowledge from Anglophone contexts come to be seen as natural, whilst others are marginalised (Boussebaa & Tienari, 2021).

The diffusion of journal rankings has helped expose Italian accounting scholars to international debates, and to some extent, this has meant Italian academics are less isolated (Antonelli & D’Alessio, 2014). Nevertheless, in a relatively short period of time Italian scholars have had to adjust to new ways of doing research. This includes an increased focus on journal articles as opposed to books, which had been the traditional way of spreading knowledge in Italy, and the search for new epistemological avenues and objects of enquiry in order to target international journals (Humphrey & Gendron, 2015; Maran & Leoni, 2018). Crucially, the pressure to publish in ‘international’ journals has also created a new barrier to career advancement for those who are not yet able to write skillfully in English (Andrew et al., 2020). The use of the English language as the main means of communication may also impact on an author’s ability to convey their message in a nuanced and sophisticated manner, thereby ‘watering down’ their potential contribution. The possibility of an exact translation is little more than a myth (Evans, 2018).

Faithful to Critical Perspectives on Accounting’s commitment to research diversity, this special issue begins to address the aforementioned issues by offering Italian-speaking scholars the opportunity to bring their work to the attention of the international community and articulate their ‘critical perspectives’ in their own language.

Consistent with the journal’s goal, we recognise that accounting practices and corporate behaviour are inextricably connected with the many allocative, distributive, social, gender and ecological problems of our era. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions that investigate accounting issues in conjunction with understandings from other disciplines and/or employ methodological approaches that remain under-explored in accounting studies (Roslender & Dillard, 2003; Gendron & Rodrigue, 2019; Michelon, 2020). Submissions should adopt a critical perspective (Gendron, 2018) and, hence, offer interpretations and positions that challenge dominant functionalist forms of thinking and knowing (Parker & Thomas, 2011). Engaging in critical accounting research is a quintessential political endeavour for critical studies seek to expose the interested, partisan nature of current institutional and economic arrangements (Deegan, 2017; Haynes, 2017). Critical studies also aim to enhance social, economic and environmental justice through the promotion of more democratic institutions and processes (Dillard & Vinnari, 2017).

This special issue is open to a wide array of topics of interest to the critical community (Dillard & Vinnari, 2017), including (but not limited to) accounting and auditing standard setting/regulation, the accounting profession, new public management and public sector accounting, healthcare management, neoliberalism, power relations and exploitation, financial crises, national austerity budgets, social and environmental accounting and reporting, and corporate governance. Topics can be analysed by adopting a current or historical perspective.

The special issue promotes theoretical diversity. Authors are therefore welcome to use understandings from well-known thinkers such as Marx, Foucault, Latour and Bourdieu to name but a few (Catchpowle et al., 2004; Sargiacomo, 2008; Cooper et al., 2011; Bigoni & Funnell, 2015). Nevertheless, authors are encouraged to tap into the rich Italian intellectual tradition and draw insights from the work of Italian theorists who are yet to attract the attention of the international community in fields as diverse as sociology, psychology, philosophy, organization theory, linguistics, anthropology and political economy. This special issue also welcomes quantitative approaches that offer a critique of current accounting and accountability practices (see Gray & Milne, 2015; Richardson, 2015; Roberts & Wallace, 2015). We expect the critical contributions of Italian-speaking authors will significantly contribute to enriching the debate on accounting and its interrelations with the social context in which it operates (Hopwood, 1983).

Preliminary workshop

It is intended that an online workshop hosted by the University “Gabriele D’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara will be held in respect of the call on 16-17 May 2022. More details will be provided closer to the date. Those wishing to present at the workshop should contact Michele Bigoni (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk) and provide a draft paper by 31 January 2022. Authors of selected papers from the workshop will be invited to submit their revised papers for this special issue, subject to the review processes detailed below. Attendance and/or presentation at the workshop is not a prerequisite for submission to the special issue.

Submission process to the special issue

The deadline for submissions to this special issue is 31 December 2022. The guest editors welcome enquiries from those who are interested in submitting to the special issue.

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically in Italian via https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting. The editorial process, including editorial letters, reviews and revisions required from the authors, will be carried out in Italian. Apart from the spoken language, all papers will be reviewed in accordance with the normal processes of Critical Perspectives on Accounting. The manuscripts that are selected for the special issue will have to be translated into English before final acceptance (at the authors’ expense). The quality of this translation needs to meet the standards required by the editors, and will be subject to a validation process. To mitigate the limitations of translation and to strengthen dissemination in Italian circles, the English version of the manuscript will be published in the special issue, with the Italian version published as supplementary online material.

It is anticipated that this special issue will be published in 2024 or 2025.

Any queries or enquiries about the special issue should be directed to all of the editors at the following addresses:

Michele Bigoni (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk)

Laura Maran (laura.maran@rmit.edu.au)

Giovanna Michelon (giovanna.michelon@bristol.ac.uk)

Massimo Sargiacomo (msargiacomo@unich.it)

References

Andrew, J., Cooper, C., & Gendron, Y. (2020). Addressing the English language hegemony problem in academia: An ongoing experiment and preliminary policy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting69, 102127.

Antonelli, V., & D’Alessio, R. (2014). Accounting history as a local discipline: The case of the Italian-speaking literature (1869–2008). The Accounting Historians Journal41(1), 79–111.

ANVUR (2020). Elenchi di riviste scientifiche e di classe A. Available at https://www.anvur.it/attivita/classificazione-delle-riviste/classificazione-delle-riviste-ai-fini-dellabilitazione-scientifica-nazionale/elenchi-di-riviste-scientifiche-e-di-classe-a/, accessed 18 November 2020.

Bigoni, M., & Funnell, W. (2015). Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century, Critical Perspectives on Accounting27, 160-176.

Boussebaa, M., & Tienari, J. (2021). Englishization and the politics of knowledge production in management studies. Journal of Management Inquiry30(1), 59-67.

Catchpowle, L., Cooper, C., & Wright, A. (2004), Capitalism, states and ac-counting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting15(8), 1037-1058.

Cooper, C., Coulson, A., & Taylor, P. (2011). Accounting for human rights: Doxic health and safety practices – The accounting lesson from ICL. Critical Perspectives on Accounting22(8), 738-758.

Deegan, C. (2017). Twenty five years of social and environmental accounting research within Critical Perspectives of Accounting: Hits, misses and ways forward. Critical Perspectives on Accounting43, 65-87.

Dillard, J., & Vinnari, E. (2017). A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting43, 88-109.

Evans, L. (2018). Language, translation and accounting: towards a critical research agenda. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal31(7), 1844-1873.

Gendron, Y. (2018). On the elusive nature of critical (accounting) research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 50, 1-12.

Gendron, Y., & Rodrigue, M. (2019). On the centrality of peripheral research and the dangers of tight boundary gatekeeping. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 102076. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235419300152.

Gray, R., & Milne, M.J. (2015). It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it? Of method and madness. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 51-66.

Hagège, C. (2012). Contre la pensée unique. Paris: Odile Jacob.

Haynes, K. (2017). Accounting as gendering and gendered: A review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 43, 110-124.

Hopwood, A.G. (1983). On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates. Accounting, Organizations and Society8(2-3), 287-305.

Humphrey, C., & Gendron, Y. (2015). What is going on? The sustainability of accounting academia. Critical Perspectives on Accounting26, 47-66.

Maran, L. & Leoni, G. (2018). The contribution of the Italian literature to the international Accounting History literature. Accounting History24(1), 5-39.

Michelon, G. (2020). Accounting research boundaries, multiple centers and academic empathy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 102204. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235420300538.

Parker, L.D., & Guthrie, J. (2013). Accounting scholars and journals rating and benchmarking. Risking academic research quality. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(1), 4-15.

Parker, M., & Thomas, R. (2011). What is a critical journal? Organization18(4), 419–427.

Picard, C.-F., Durocher, S., & Gendron, Y. (2019). Desingularization and dequalification: A foray into ranking production and utilization processes. European Accounting Review28(4), 737-735.

Roberts, R.W., & Wallace, D.M. (2015). Sustaining diversity in social and environmental accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 78-87.

Richardson, A.J. (2015). Quantitative research and the critical accounting project. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 67-77.

Roslender, R., & Dillard, J.F. (2003). Reflections on the interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting project. Critical Perspectives on Accounting14(3), 325-351.

Sargiacomo, M. (2008). Accounting and the “Art of Government”: Margaret of Austria in Abruzzo (1539–86). European Accounting Review17(4), 667-695.

Wilmott, H. (2011). Journal list fetishism and the perversion of scholarship: Reactivity and the ABS list. Organization, 18(4), 429-442.

17 February 2021

Critical Perspectives on Accounting in Italian – versione in Italiano (aggiornata ad Aprile 2022)

Aggiornamento sull’Evento preliminare: il seminario legato al Numero Speciale si terrà in modalità online. Per i dettagli si veda il paragrafo ‘Evento preliminare’.

Critical Perspectives on Accounting in Italian

Editori

Michele Bigoni, University of Kent (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk)

Laura Maran, RMIT University (laura.maran@rmit.edu.au)

Giovanna Michelon, University of Bristol (giovanna.michelon@bristol.ac.uk)

Massimo Sargiacomo, Università degli Studi “Gabriele D’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara (msargiacomo@unich.it)

Le classificazioni delle riviste scientifiche e le misure di impatto academico come, ad esempio, gli indici di citazione sono ad oggi un fenomeno globale e sono sempre più usati da università, governi ed enti finanziatori con diverse finalità, quali la gestione delle carriere del personale accademico, la valutazione ed il finanziamento della ricerca (Wilmott, 2011; Parker & Guthrie, 2013; Picard et al., 2019). L’Italia non fa certo eccezione e, di conseguenza, varie classificazioni sono state sviluppate allo scopo di individuare riviste specifiche ritenute di “alta qualità”. L’Elenco delle Riviste di Classe A preparato dall’Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR) è divenuto particolarmente influente in quanto utilizzato ai fini dell’Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale e dell’accreditamento ministeriale dei programmi di dottorato (ANVUR, 2020). L’Elenco non offre una vera e propria classifica ma si limita ad indicare le riviste ritenute di qualità elevata. Vista l’egemonia della lingua inglese nell’ambito dell’accademia internazionale (Hagège, 2012; Andrew et al., 2020), non sorprende che tutte le riviste incluse nell’Elenco siano pubblicate in inglese. Tale fenomeno rinforza ulteriormente il processo di ‘inglesizzazione’ dell’università laddove particolari forme di conoscenza prodotte in contesti anglofoni vengono viste come naturali ed incondizionatamente accettate, mentre altre forme di sapere finiscono per essere marginalizzate (Boussebaa & Tienari, 2021).

La diffusione delle classificazioni di riviste scientifiche ha contribuito a far sì che i ricercatori italiani venissero in contatto con i dibattiti in essere a livello internazionale, e, almeno in parte, ha ridotto l’isolamento dell’accademia italiana (Antonelli & D’Alessio, 2014). Tuttavia, ciò ha anche significato che in tempi relativamente brevi i ricercatori italiani si siano dovuti abituare a nuove modalità di ricerca. Tali novità includono una maggiore rilevanza degli articoli pubblicati su rivista ed un peso via via inferiore attribuito invece a libri e monografie, che hanno tradizionalmente rappresentato il mezzo principale per la diffusione del sapere in Italia, nonché l’adozione di nuove scelte epistemologiche ed oggetti di ricerca che consentano l’accesso alle riviste internazionali (Humphrey & Gendron, 2015; Maran & Leoni, 2018). Occorre inoltre notare che la spinta verso la pubblicazione di lavori in riviste internazionali ha creato un ulteriore ostacolo alla carriera di coloro che ancora non padroneggiano in maniera solida e fluente la lingua inglese scritta (Andrew et al., 2020). L’uso della lingua inglese come mezzo di comunicazione principale può anche impattare la capacità di un autore di trasmettere il proprio messaggio in modo elaborato e sofisticato, ‘annacquando’ di conseguenza il suo potenziale contributo. La possibilità di ottenere una traduzione esatta è di fatto poco più di un mito (Evans, 2018).

Fedele all’impegno di Critical Perspectives on Accounting verso la promozione della libertà e diversità nell’attività di ricerca, questo numero speciale inizia ad affrontare i summenzionati problemi offrendo la possibilità ai ricercatori di lingua italiana di portare il proprio lavoro all’attenzione della comunità internazionale e di articolare la propria ‘prospettiva critica’ nella propria lingua.

In linea con gli obiettivi della rivista, riteniamo che le pratiche contabili e la vita aziendale siano legate in modo inestricabile a numerosi problemi allocativi, distributivi, sociali, ecologici e di genere che caratterizzano la nostra epoca. Il numero speciale accoglie lavori interdisciplinari che analizzano le pratiche contabili attraverso le lenti di altre discipline e/o utilizzano approcci metodologici che al momento sono ancora scarsamente esplorati negli studi di economia aziendale (Roslender & Dillard, 2003; Gendron & Rodrigue, 2019; Michelon, 2020). I lavori dovranno adottare una prospettiva critica (Gendron, 2018) e, di conseguenza, fornire interpretazioni e posizioni che mettono in discussione le forme di pensiero e di conoscenza di natura funzionalista che dominano il panorama scientifico (Parker & Thomas, 2011). Lo svolgimento di attività di ricerca in ambito economico-aziendale di carattere critico è un atto fortemente politico in quanto tali studi cercano di mettere in luce la natura interessata e settaria delle correnti configurazioni istituzionali ed economiche (Deegan, 2017; Haynes, 2017). Gli studi critici cercano inoltre di sostenere la giustizia sociale, economica e ambientale attraverso la promozione di istituzioni e processi più democratici (Dillard & Vinnari, 2017).

Questo numero speciale è aperto ad una varietà di temi di interesse per la comunità che svolge ricerca critica (Dillard & Vinnari, 2017), compresi (ma non limitati a) la regolazione e la definizione di principi contabili e di revisione, la professione contabile, il ‘new public management’ e la contabilità nel settore pubblico, la gestione delle aziende sanitarie, il neoliberismo, le relazioni di potere e lo sfruttamento dei più deboli, le crisi finanziarie, la programmazione in tempi di austerità, la contabilità e la comunicazione d’azienda in ottica sociale ed ambientale ed il governo societario. Tali temi possono essere analizzati in prospettiva contemporanea o storica.

Il numero speciale promuove la libertà e la diversità nell’adozione di approcci teorici. Gli autori hanno quindi la possibilità di utilizzare concetti sviluppati da pensatori ben conosciuti come ad esempio Marx, Foucault, Latour o Bourdieu (Catchpowle et al., 2004; Sargiacomo, 2008; Cooper et al., 2011; Bigoni & Funnell, 2015). S’intende tuttavia incoraggiare gli autori a sfruttare la ricca tradizione intellettuale italiana ed in particolare il lavoro di studiosi italiani ancora sconosciuti alla comunità internazionale in campi come la sociologia, la psicologia, la filosofia, la teoria organizzativa, la linguistica, l’antropologia e l’economia politica. Il numero speciale accoglie inoltre approcci di natura quantitativa che offrono una critica delle pratiche contabili e di accountability contemporanee (si vedano Gray & Milne, 2015; Richardson, 2015; Roberts & Wallace, 2015). Si ritiene che i lavori critici degli autori di lingua italiana contribuiranno in modo significativo all’arricchimento del dibatto circa la contabilità ed il contesto sociale in cui essa opera (Hopwood, 1983).

Evento preliminare

Il numero speciale è associato ad un seminario dedicato. Tale evento si terrà il 16-17 Maggio 2022 in modalità online e sarà organizzato dall’Università degli Studi “Gabriele D’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara. Maggiori dettagli sull’evento verranno forniti nel corso dei prossimi mesi. Coloro che intendano presentare un lavoro durante l’evento sono pregati di contattare Michele Bigoni (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk) ed inviare una prima bozza del loro lavoro entro il 31 Gennaio 2022. Gli autori degli articoli selezionati per la presentazione all’evento verranno invitati ad inviare i loro contributi rivisti e corretti per il numero speciale. Gli articoli sottomessi alla rivista saranno soggetti al processo di referaggio descritto di seguito. La presenza e/o la presentazione di un lavoro all’evento non è necessaria ai fini della sottomissione di un articolo al numero speciale.

Procedura di invio dei lavori per il numero speciale

La scadenza per l’invio di lavori per il numero speciale è il 31 Dicembre 2022. Gli editori di questo numero speciale sono a disposizione per eventuali domande e richieste di chiarimento da parte di coloro che siano interessati ad inviare un contributo.

I lavori dovranno essere inviati in italiano ed in formato elettronico tramite la procedura di Critical Perspectives on Accounting all’indirizzo https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting. Il processo editoriale, comprese le lettere degli editori, i referaggi e le revisioni richieste agli autori, avverrà interamente in lingua italiana. Ad eccezione della lingua, tutti i contributi seguiranno il normale processo di referaggio proprio di Critical Perspectives on Accounting. I lavori che verranno selezionati per l’inclusione nel numero speciale dovranno poi essere tradotti in inglese prima dell’accettazione definitiva (a spese degli autori). La qualità della traduzione dovrà essere in linea con gli standard richiesti dagli editori, e sarà soggetta a un processo di validazione. Al fine di mitigare i limiti della traduzione e per incentivare la disseminazione dei lavori nei circoli scientifici italiani, la versione inglese del lavoro verrà inserita nel numero speciale, e nel contempo la versione italiana verrà pubblicata come materiale supplementare in formato elettronico.

Si prevede che il numero speciale verrà pubblicato nel 2024 o nel 2025.

Qualsiasi domanda sul numero speciale dovrà essere inviata a tutti gli editori ai seguenti indirizzi email:

Michele Bigoni (M.Bigoni@kent.ac.uk)

Laura Maran (laura.maran@rmit.edu.au)

Giovanna Michelon (giovanna.michelon@bristol.ac.uk)

Massimo Sargiacomo (msargiacomo@unich.it)

Bibliografia

Andrew, J., Cooper, C., & Gendron, Y. (2020). Addressing the English language hegemony problem in academia: An ongoing experiment and preliminary policy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting69, 102127.

Antonelli, V., & D’Alessio, R. (2014). Accounting history as a local discipline: The case of the Italian-speaking literature (1869–2008). The Accounting Historians Journal41(1), 79–111.

ANVUR (2020). Elenchi di riviste scientifiche e di classe A. Available at https://www.anvur.it/attivita/classificazione-delle-riviste/classificazione-delle-riviste-ai-fini-dellabilitazione-scientifica-nazionale/elenchi-di-riviste-scientifiche-e-di-classe-a/, accessed 18 November 2020.

Bigoni, M., & Funnell, W. (2015). Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century, Critical Perspectives on Accounting27, 160-176.

Boussebaa, M., & Tienari, J. (2021). Englishization and the politics of knowledge production in management studies. Journal of Management Inquiry30(1), 59-67.

Catchpowle, L., Cooper, C., & Wright, A. (2004), Capitalism, states and ac-counting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting15(8), 1037-1058.

Cooper, C., Coulson, A., & Taylor, P. (2011). Accounting for human rights: Doxic health and safety practices – The accounting lesson from ICL. Critical Perspectives on Accounting22(8), 738-758.

Deegan, C. (2017). Twenty five years of social and environmental accounting research within Critical Perspectives of Accounting: Hits, misses and ways forward. Critical Perspectives on Accounting43, 65-87.

Dillard, J., & Vinnari, E. (2017). A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting. Critical Perspectives on Accounting43, 88-109.

Evans, L. (2018). Language, translation and accounting: towards a critical research agenda. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal31(7), 1844-1873.

Gendron, Y. (2018). On the elusive nature of critical (accounting) research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 50, 1-12.

Gendron, Y., & Rodrigue, M. (2019). On the centrality of peripheral research and the dangers of tight boundary gatekeeping. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 102076. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235419300152.

Gray, R., & Milne, M.J. (2015). It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it? Of method and madness. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 51-66.

Hagège, C. (2012). Contre la pensée unique. Paris: Odile Jacob.

Haynes, K. (2017). Accounting as gendering and gendered: A review of 25 years of critical accounting research on gender. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 43, 110-124.

Hopwood, A.G. (1983). On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates. Accounting, Organizations and Society8(2-3), 287-305.

Humphrey, C., & Gendron, Y. (2015). What is going on? The sustainability of accounting academia. Critical Perspectives on Accounting26, 47-66.

Maran, L. & Leoni, G. (2018). The contribution of the Italian literature to the international Accounting History literature. Accounting History24(1), 5-39.

Michelon, G. (2020). Accounting research boundaries, multiple centers and academic empathy. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 102204. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1045235420300538.

Parker, L.D., & Guthrie, J. (2013). Accounting scholars and journals rating and benchmarking. Risking academic research quality. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(1), 4-15.

Parker, M., & Thomas, R. (2011). What is a critical journal? Organization18(4), 419–427.

Picard, C.F., Durocher, S., & Gendron, Y. (2019). Desingularization and dequalification: A foray into ranking production and utilization processes. European Accounting Review28(4), 737-735.

Roberts, R.W., & Wallace, D.M. (2015). Sustaining diversity in social and environmental accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 78-87.

Richardson, A.J. (2015). Quantitative research and the critical accounting project. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 32, 67-77.

Roslender, R., & Dillard, J.F. (2003). Reflections on the interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting project. Critical Perspectives on Accounting14(3), 325-351.

Sargiacomo, M. (2008). Accounting and the “Art of Government”: Margaret of Austria in Abruzzo (1539–86). European Accounting Review17(4), 667-695.

Wilmott, H. (2011). Journal list fetishism and the perversion of scholarship: Reactivity and the ABS list. Organization, 18(4), 429-442.

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