Organizations and Markets

Accountics in Japan

13 December 2007 at 12:47 pm Peter G. Klein Leave a comment

| Peter Klein |

We discussed earlier the increasingly quantitative nature of accounting research, what some call accountics. (When I hear that term I’m reminded of a cartoon I once saw showing a woman dressed as a dominatrix standing before a company reception desk: “Oh, you must be the new accountrix.”)

Tomo Suzuki’s paper, “Accountics: Impacts of Internationally Standardized Accounting on the Japanese Socio-economy” (Accounting, Organizations, and Society, April 2007), argues that the postwar spread of Western accounting practices “directed new courses of the Japanese economy and firms through the development of ‘statistical habits of thought.’ ” A follow-up paper (same journal, August 2007 issue) traces the history of Japanese accounting practices in more detail, emphasizing the role of academic accountants in fostering the postwar accounting revolution. (See, professors can make a difference!)

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Business/Economic History, Institutions.