Soldiers don’t go mad: Shell shock and accounting intransigence in the British Army 1914-18

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2021). Soldiers don’t go mad: Shell shock and accounting intransigence in the British Army 1914-18. The British Accounting Review, 53(2), 100956. doi:10.1016/j.bar.2020.100956

Abstract: This research examines intransigence in accounting systems. Using historical research methods and archival sources, it explores intransigence in the Royal Army Medical Corps’ accounting systems in the context of the incidence of shell shock among British Army soldiers fighting at the battlefront during the First World War. The Army did not recognise shell shock as a medical condition and made few changes to its medical accounting systems for soldiers with shell shock. The four factors of system stability of the AGIL scheme (adaptation, goal attainment, integration, latency) are used to understand the limited medical accounting response to shell shock. This research indicates that in addition to historical and internal political reasons for intransigence, intransigence will occur unless a factor in the AGIL scheme is sufficiently impaired to make the accounting system unstable and force system change. This research finding has contemporary relevance, explaining accounting intransigence in response to issues of social concern.

Entertainment as an archival source for historical accounting research

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2021). Entertainment as an archival source for historical accounting research. Accounting History, 26(1), 146-167. doi:10.1177/1032373220969219

Abstract: This research champions indigenous voices and epistemes in accounting history. It corrects the hegemony of the coloniser’s voice in the archive and fills the archival vacuum with indigenous voices. This research presents the case of rice accounting in Cambodia. Cambodia was devastated by half a millennium of warfare and coups destroying written archives. The archives of the French coloniser are all that survive. That archive tells the coloniser’s version of rice accounting. To challenge that version of rice accounting, this research examines the story of rice accounting found in a traditional form of Cambodian entertainment: circus performance. Circus performance is a form of archive that captures collective memory, providing an indigenous voice and episteme. This research examines how, in preserving collective memory, traditional forms of entertainment can facilitate a richer understanding of accounting history when the written indigenous archive is impaired, destroyed or has failed to recognise the indigenous voice.

Suffer little children: Power, boundaries and the epistemology of ignorance in accounting for Church and State.

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2020). Suffer little children: Power, boundaries and the epistemology of ignorance in accounting for Church and State. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 102162. doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102162

Abstract: This research contributes to post-structural theorisation of the accounting-power nexus. It explores how social boundaries shape collective identities, and how these identities determine the accounting responses of social groups. This research includes a case study using interview and archival research methods. Hayward’s (2000) concept of de-facing power is adopted to demonstrate how the development of historically contingent social boundaries shaped the collective identities of Church and State in the area of education funding and contributed to their lack of accounting records. When a political crisis over the lack of State funding of Catholic education occurred in the early 1960s, neither Church nor State could access the accounting information required to mediate the crisis because they had both selectively chosen to maintain accounting records consistent with their constructed identities even though this meant that their accounting records were not suited to all their needs. This research extends the post-structuralism project in accounting research to the notion of an epistemology of ignorance, which is the intentional choice by a social group to remain ignorant. It explores how boundaries can constrain choices and actions, promoting an epistemology of ignorance that can lead to the maintenance of inadequate accounting records.

Pragmatic postmodernism and engagement through the culture of continuous creativity

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2019). Pragmatic postmodernism and engagement through the culture of continuous creativity. Accounting Education. 28(2), 172-194. doi:10.1080/09639284.2018.1471727

Abstract:  In order to engage students who have difficulty with the dominant world-view presented by accounting, or who have negative views of accounting, a different approach to teaching is required. We developed the concept of pragmatic postmodernism in the teaching of accounting to merge a postmodern teaching philosophy with the constraints and realities of teaching accounting. It represents an attempt to synthesise the individual learning needs of contemporary students who have difficulty accepting the dominant world-view of accounting with the constraints inherent in the resourcing, architecture and systems surrounding the teaching of accounting. The purpose of this research is to describe the thinking behind a pragmatic postmodern approach to the teaching of accounting. We provide examples of teaching approaches consistent with pragmatic postmodernism, that we have used successfully in our teaching to engage students who might otherwise be disengaged in their learning because of their rejection of the dominant world-view of accounting. In keeping with the philosophical underpinnings of postmodernism, we do not offer a magical panacea but an approach to thinking about teaching that seeks to prioritise the individual learning experience while remaining cognisant of the many constraints on the teaching of accounting.

Farewell my lovely: Can we resurrect accounting education research?

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2018). Farewell my lovely: Can we resurrect accounting education research? Paper presented at the British Accounting and Finance Association Accounting Education Special Interest Group Conference, Brighton, UK.

Abstract:   We examine the quality of published accounting education research and compare to the quality of the research in published general higher education journals.  We find that accounting education research compares poorly with general education research.  The reasons for this poor performance are associated with failures to address methodology (not method), to problematize the issues and to theorise the cases.  We propose modifying accounting education research to emulate research in general education.  We recognise that this is a difficult task due to the historically constructed power relationships with accounting education research, the cultural capital inherent in the dominant style of accounting education research and the habitus it has created.  We argue that the nature of accounting education research needs to change to end the symbolic violence inflicted on researchers and, through them, accounting students.

“This degrading and stealthy practice”: Accounting, stigma and indigenous wages in Australia 1897-1972

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2018). “This degrading and stealthy practice”: Accounting, stigma and Indigenous wages in Australia 1897-1972. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 31(2), 456-477. doi:10.1108/AAAJ-10-2014-1839

Abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make visible the relationship between accounting and stigma in the absence of accounting. This research examines how failure to implement mandatory accounting and auditing requirements in the management of indigenous wages contributed to stigmatisation of indigenous Australians and led to maladministration and unchecked financial fraud that continued for over 75 years. The accounting failures are by those charged with protecting the financial interests of the indigenous population.

Design/methodology/approach
An historical and qualitative approach has been used that draws upon archival and contemporary sources.

Findings
Prior research has examined the nexus between accounting mechanisms and stigma. This research suggests that the absence of accounting mechanisms can also contribute to stigma.

Research limitations/implications
This research highlights the complex relationship between accounting and stigma, suggesting that it is simplistic to examine the nexus between accounting and stigma without considering the social forces in which stigmatisation occurs.

Social implications
This research demonstrates decades of failed accounting have contributed to the ongoing social disadvantage of indigenous Australians. The presence of accounting mechanisms cannot eradicate the past, or fix the present, but can create an environment where financial abuse does not occur.

Originality/value
This research demonstrates that stigma can be exacerbated in the negative space created by failures or absence of accounting.

Keywords:
Indigenous Australians, Stigma, Accounting history, Aborigines, Accounting controls, Stolen wages

Full paper available from the journal

Patterns of everyday resistance: The case of Hmong Lao accounting records

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2017). Patterns of everyday resistance: The case of Hmong Lao accounting records. Paper presented at the Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Quebec City.

Abstract: This research examines the use of accounting as a tool of micro-resistance using he methodological approach of Michel de Certeau. The accounting of the Hmong Lao is used as an example of micro-resistance. These records are non-traditional in format and the medium on which they are preserved, not by choice but because past oppression limited the options pertaining to all aspects of Hmong Lao accounting records. The records are image-based and preserved on traditional costumes, which enabled the Hmong Lao to keep the records’ contents secret while preserving them in plain view. This paradox is central to the records being tools of micro-resistance.

Paper available from ResearchGate

Financial control, blame avoidance and Radio Caroline: Talkin’ ‘bout my generation

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2017). Financial control, blame avoidance and Radio Caroline: Talkin’ ‘bout my generation. Accounting History, 22(3), 301-319. doi:10.1177/1032373216683527

Abstract: This research examines the use of financial mechanisms to impose controls while facilitating blame avoidance by public office-holders. A qualitative historical examination is used to examine legislation designed to prevent Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station, from broadcasting into Britain in the 1960s. Radio Caroline made a mockery of the British Government’s power to manage radio through a monopolist, the British Broadcasting Corporation. In addition, Radio Caroline played the type of rock music the British Government sought to suppress because it represented the undesirable side of youth culture. Hence, inter-generational conflict was connected to the British Government’s attitude towards Radio Caroline. This research examines the suppression of Radio Caroline through the Marine & Broadcasting (Offences) Act (UK) 1967 and the legislative scapegoating of Radio Caroline by targeting its revenue-earning potential. It demonstrates the use of financial control mechanisms to mask the strategies of governments.

The article is available from the journal

Choreography of the past: Accounting and the writing of Christine de Pizan

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2017). Choreography of the past: Accounting and the writing of Christine de Pizan. Accounting Historians Journal, 44(1), 51-62. doi:10.2308/aahj-10522

Abstract:  This research discusses The Treasure of the City of Ladies, a manuscript written by Christine de Pizan in France during early fifteenth century to give guidance on account-keeping and budgeting. Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but raised in the French royal court. Her manuscript gives the keeping of accounts and budget management a religious imperative. She describes them as functions where the three Divine virtues of reason, rectitude and justice are applied. Christine de Pizan describes how demonstrating these virtues through proper keeping of accounts and budgets is a way to demonstrate love of God. Although historical accounting records show how accounting was done, this manuscript explains why it was done. In giving a rationale for single-entry bookkeeping and budgeting, the manuscript provides a source that prevents present-mindedness when attempting to undertake contemporary analyses of accounting records from this historical period.

Full copy of the paper is available from the journal

Their name liveth for evermore: Accounting for the human cost of war

Miley, F. M., & Read, A. F. (2017). Their name liveth for evermore: Accounting for the human cost of war. Paper presented at the 40th Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association, Valencia.

Abstract:  The currency of war is human life yet the cost of human life lost in war remains an under-researched area of accounting.  This research uses a qualitative and historical research design to consider accounting for the cost of human life lost in war, contending that war cemeteries are accounting reports.  Through a qualitative and historical approach, the accounting content of war cemeteries built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and it predecessors, is considered.  The planning and building of these cemeteries is examined to illustrate key features of the cemeteries as accounting reports and the information content they were designed to convey.  In addition, the transformative power of accounting is considered to illustrate how meaning has been transformed over time in the interpretation of the cemeteries as accounting reports.  The cemeteries were built after the First World War.  Three time periods are examined to demonstrate shifts in meaning: in the inter-war period, Cold War period, and contemporary period.  This research suggests the epistemological and ontological boundaries of accounting are already able to accommodate war cemeteries and their construction as accounting reports.  This research highlights the heteroglossic dimensions of accounting provided by the power of users to give meaning to accounting disclosures.

Full paper available from ResearchGate