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Internationalising international accounting research
Accounting,
Orgmizutions Published
and .Socie[y. Vol by Elsevirr
Sc~rncr
22. No. 6. pp
Ltd
Printrd
0361-3332/T
iii-iv,
in (;rcat 5 l’.OO
1997 Britain + 0.00
CALL FOR PAPERS
Internationalising
International
Accounting
Research
A Conference Sponsored by Accounting, Organizations & Society and the City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Spring 1998 Accounting research is not keeping pace with the growing internationalisation of the world of accounting practice. While accounting in action is now embedded in multi-national enterprises and multi-national audit firms, and subject to emerging forms of supranational regulation, accounting research still tends to focus on national contexts and thereby remains largely influenced by national traditions and national schools of thought. One result is that we still have rather crude notions of accounting diversity and the reasons for it, and rather minimal understandings of the nature and forms of international pressures for change. Even where research insights into particular national traditions of accounting exist, they almost invariably focus on a few Western countries and uncritically reflect the perspectives of the observers rather than the observed. In the international accounting literature we still seem to have more Anglo-American views of German accounting, for instance, than internally probing insights into the nature and dynamics of the accounting calculii of not only European countries but also China, Japan and other internationally significant countries. The proposed research conference aims to stimulate an alternative research agenda, one that is explicitly internationalist in orientation, probing in intent, and interdisciplinary in outlook. The conference aims both to argue for the importance of more internationally oriented forms of accounting research and to produce thought provoking exemplars of what good research of this type might look like. Within its internationalist remit, the conference should have a broad agenda covering all significant aspects of the subject. Amongst the topics it would be desirable to include are the following: 1. Historical insights into the internationalisation of accounting
practices,
discourses and
institutions.
Critical histories of internationalisation in accounting; accounting, empires and markets; narratives of internationalism in accounting; comparative notions of the spheres of public and private action and their implications for accounting; comparative histories of the professionalisation of accounting; the internationalisation of economic calculation and associated discourses and practices. 2. Contemporary in.uences on the internationalisation of accounting. The globalisation of capital markets and the associated pressures for accounting change; comparative governance structures and accounting policy choices; the rise of the multi-national audit firm and the creation of an international market in accounting services; comparative analyses of 111
iv
CALL TO PAPERS
accounting responses to shifting agendas of the state; the globalisation of key business enterprises and the functioning of management information and control systems at the global level; pressures for the internationalisation of accounting education; an emerging international politics of accounting research. 3. An international domain of accountingpractice andpolicy making. The emergence of regional and international forms of accounting regulation; the intluences on accounting of international agencies such as the World Bank; the international migration of accounting practices and discourses, for example to the newly emergent economies of China, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; the roles of international consultancy firms. Papers are welcome on all aspects of these and related subjects. All papers submitted are subject to the normal review process of Accounting, Organizations & Society. Offers of papers must be sub mitted before 30 June 1997 to both of the following: Professor Anthony G Hopwood School of Management Studies University of Oxford The Radcliffe Infirmary Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6HE U.K. and Professor Judy Tsui Department of Accounting City University of Hong Kong Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Hong Kong
Orgmizutions Published
and .Socie[y. Vol by Elsevirr
Sc~rncr
22. No. 6. pp
Ltd
Printrd
0361-3332/T
iii-iv,
in (;rcat 5 l’.OO
1997 Britain + 0.00
CALL FOR PAPERS
Internationalising
International
Accounting
Research
A Conference Sponsored by Accounting, Organizations & Society and the City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Spring 1998 Accounting research is not keeping pace with the growing internationalisation of the world of accounting practice. While accounting in action is now embedded in multi-national enterprises and multi-national audit firms, and subject to emerging forms of supranational regulation, accounting research still tends to focus on national contexts and thereby remains largely influenced by national traditions and national schools of thought. One result is that we still have rather crude notions of accounting diversity and the reasons for it, and rather minimal understandings of the nature and forms of international pressures for change. Even where research insights into particular national traditions of accounting exist, they almost invariably focus on a few Western countries and uncritically reflect the perspectives of the observers rather than the observed. In the international accounting literature we still seem to have more Anglo-American views of German accounting, for instance, than internally probing insights into the nature and dynamics of the accounting calculii of not only European countries but also China, Japan and other internationally significant countries. The proposed research conference aims to stimulate an alternative research agenda, one that is explicitly internationalist in orientation, probing in intent, and interdisciplinary in outlook. The conference aims both to argue for the importance of more internationally oriented forms of accounting research and to produce thought provoking exemplars of what good research of this type might look like. Within its internationalist remit, the conference should have a broad agenda covering all significant aspects of the subject. Amongst the topics it would be desirable to include are the following: 1. Historical insights into the internationalisation of accounting
practices,
discourses and
institutions.
Critical histories of internationalisation in accounting; accounting, empires and markets; narratives of internationalism in accounting; comparative notions of the spheres of public and private action and their implications for accounting; comparative histories of the professionalisation of accounting; the internationalisation of economic calculation and associated discourses and practices. 2. Contemporary in.uences on the internationalisation of accounting. The globalisation of capital markets and the associated pressures for accounting change; comparative governance structures and accounting policy choices; the rise of the multi-national audit firm and the creation of an international market in accounting services; comparative analyses of 111
iv
CALL TO PAPERS
accounting responses to shifting agendas of the state; the globalisation of key business enterprises and the functioning of management information and control systems at the global level; pressures for the internationalisation of accounting education; an emerging international politics of accounting research. 3. An international domain of accountingpractice andpolicy making. The emergence of regional and international forms of accounting regulation; the intluences on accounting of international agencies such as the World Bank; the international migration of accounting practices and discourses, for example to the newly emergent economies of China, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; the roles of international consultancy firms. Papers are welcome on all aspects of these and related subjects. All papers submitted are subject to the normal review process of Accounting, Organizations & Society. Offers of papers must be sub mitted before 30 June 1997 to both of the following: Professor Anthony G Hopwood School of Management Studies University of Oxford The Radcliffe Infirmary Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6HE U.K. and Professor Judy Tsui Department of Accounting City University of Hong Kong Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Hong Kong