Five Aspects of Accounting Departments' Work

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Vol 7, No 3, September 1996

Posted: 24 Apr 1998

See all articles by Jan Mouritsen

Jan Mouritsen

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Operations Management

Abstract

The organisational significance of accounting departments' work is traditionally portrayed as information provision for setting and monitoring the budget. A survey of 370 Danish chief management accountants (overste okonomiansvarlige') presented here suggests that this traditional view seriously under identifies the variations in accountants' work. It is suggested that a greater appreciation of this variation can be gained by identifying five distinct aspects to it. Such identification is helpful since the way these aspects are independently correlated with different organisational characteristics helps us understand the diversity in the provision of accounting services. The study proposes that accounting departments' work is intimately involved with mediating exchanges between organisational actors via the mobilisation of calculative techniques. It is also argued that the way in which these techniques are employed is not immutable. A nuanced understanding of technique application by accounting departments can only be developed if it is appreciated how it relates to the specific organisational setting.

JEL Classification: M40, M46

Suggested Citation

Mouritsen, Jan, Five Aspects of Accounting Departments' Work. MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Vol 7, No 3, September 1996, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2721

Jan Mouritsen (Contact Author)

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Operations Management ( email )

Solbjerg Plads 3
Department of Operations Management
DK - 2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
+45 38 15 24 20 (Phone)
+45 38 15 24 01 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.cbs.dk/staff/jan.mouritsen

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