The dynamics of accounting change Inter-play between new practices, routines, institutions, power and politics

Author: Burns, John

Source: Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Volume 13, Number 5, 2000 , pp. 566-596(31)

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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Abstract:

This paper explores accounting change in the product development department of a small UK chemicals manufacturer. An institutional framework of accounting and a framework of power mobilisation help tease out the dynamics of the processes of change. The case highlights power over resources, decision making and meanings as being key facilitators to the implementation of accounting change. It also demonstrates barriers to change and conflict which emerge as new accounting routines fail to impinge on existing laboratory ways of thinking. Focusing on the processes of accounting change within a specific organisational setting illuminates aspects of the change process which more conventional "static" approaches would likely ignore.

Keywords: Organizational Politics; Accounting Systems; Organizational Change; Accounting Research; Conflict

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570010353710

Publication date: 2000-05-01