Accounting as Reality Construction

Accounting Organizations and Socie~y, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 477---485, 1988.
Printed in Great Britain

0361-3682/88 $3.00+.00 Pergamon Press plc

TOWARDS

A C C O U N T I N G AS R E A L I T Y C O N S T R U C T I O N : A NEW EPISTEMOLOGY FOR ACCOUNTING PRACTICE*

GARETH MORGAN

York University, Toronto

Abstract

Accountants often see themselves as objective appraisers of reality,.representing reality "as is". This paper takes a different view, arguing that accountants typically construct reality in limited and one-sided ways. It shows that the idea of objectivity in accounting is largely a myth, and one which stands in the way of interesting future developments in the discipline. The paper develops an alternative perspective on the r~ture of the accounting process, building on insights regarding the interpretive and metaphorical nature of accounting, and arguing that accounting should be approached as a form of "dialogue" through which accountants can construct, "read" and probe situations in a variety of ways.

I 'd like y o u to visualize a n Escher lithograph. Perhaps it is H a n d With Reflecting Globe, w h i c h features Escher l o o k i n g at h i m s e l f i n a crystal ball (Fig. 1). T h e artist has c r e a t e d a n image of himself l o o k i n g at h i m s e l f w h i c h b i n d s the v i e w e r i n t o the p i c t u r e as if h e o r she w e r e actually s t a n d i n g i n Escher 's shoes. I n this l i t h o g r a p h the artist is m a k i n g a fundam e n t a l e p i s t e m o l o g i c a l point. It is that h e as an artist, a n d w e as e v e r y d a y o b s e r v e r s a n d participants i n life, are active p r o d u c e r s of w h a t w e see a n d e x p e r i e n c e . I n a b r o a d sense, all knowledge is a m a t t e r of p e r s p e c t i v e . Just as a n artist makes a l i m i t e d r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the "reality" c a p t u r e d o n his o r h e r canvas, the k n o w l e d g e g e n e r a t e d b y the n a t u

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