Structure and agency in an institutionalized setting: the application and social transformation of control in the Big Six

Article Abstract:

The exercise, resistance and transformation of control in the six biggest accounting firms in the US are examined from the perspectives of institutional theory, the structuration theory and the sociology of professions. The firms involved are Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG Peat Marwick, and Price Waterhouse. The study focuses on the interaction between structural and social facets of these companies as dictated by their relative influence of their management and practitioner agents. Specifically, the study investigates how a well-established, institutional organizational setting can be transformed by social agents, what socio-political dynamics are involved in the process of transformation, and how professionals can be managed when they serve as both a resource in and a constraint upon organizational change. The results are discussed.

Accounting, auditing, & bookkeeping, Accounting & Auditing Services, Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services, Research, Accounting firms, Accounting services, Accountants, Interpersonal relations, Social interaction, Control (Psychology)

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The use of budgetary symbols in the political arena: an historically informed field study

Article Abstract:

An emerging accounting perspective asserts that budgeting has a role in building a social reality. Budgetary dialogue may therefore be one way of expressing societal expectations and affecting modern organizations. It is also suggested that organizational practice should reproduce and include such societal expectations so that the organization can exist. A field study is described which examines the utility of such a perspective on budgeting by looking at the budgetary process between a university and its supporting state government.

Finance, Universities and colleges, Accounting, Symbolism

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The budgetary process of power and politics

Article Abstract:

Budgeting is often viewed as the acquisition, allocation, and consumption of resources to achieve the objectives of an organization. A more recent conception of budgeting sees it as a political process which legitimizes and maintains power and control. The validity of the political viewpoint is examined in this study of nursing managers at six hospitals. The results strongly support the political conception. This view offers far more insight into the budgeting process than does the traditional financial approach.

Case studies, Accounting and auditing, Budget, Budgeting, Budgets, Hospitals, Organizational behavior, Hospital administration, Organization

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