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Accounting in its Social Context: An Analysis of the Accounting Systems of the Church of England

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Abstract

Accounting systems find their meaning and nature in the historical and social context of the organisations of which they are part. These social and technical aspects are amplified and their interrelationships traced through a specific study of the accounting systems in the Church of England. Although many of the insights are situation specific to this institution, some more general points are raised.
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Accounting in its Social Context: An Analysis of the Accounting Systems of the Church of England
Richard C. Laughlin
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To cite this document:
Richard C. Laughlin, (1988),"Accounting in its Social Context: An Analysis of the Accounting Systems of the Church of
England", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 1 Iss 2 pp. 19 - 42
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004622
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John B. Duncan, Dale L. Flesher, Morris H. Stocks, (1999),"Internal control systems in US churches: An examination of the
effects of church size and denomination on systems of internal control", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal,
Vol. 12 Iss 2 pp. 142-164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513579910270084
Peter Booth, (1993),"Accounting in Churches: A Research Framework and Agenda", Accounting, Auditing &
Accountability Journal, Vol. 6 Iss 4 pp. - http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513579310045684
Kerry Jacobs, (2005),"The sacred and the secular: examining the role of accounting in the religious context", Accounting,
Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 18 Iss 2 pp. 189-210 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570510588724
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... 2. Accounting and religion in the literature Current literature on accounting has, to a minimum degree, studied the interaction between religion and accounting practices (Laughlin, 1988;Booth, 1993;Mattessich, 1995;Thompson, 1991;Jacobs and Walker, 2004;Carmona and Ezzamel, 2006;Quattrone, 2004). Religion emphasises the sense of human stewardship to be embedded in financial reporting and accounting practices daily (Jones et al., 2008;Jacobs, 2005;Irvine, 2005). ...
... The first of the two streams explored the spiritual and the secular dichotomy that became an overpowering interpretive model for examining religious organisations and their accounting practices. The seminal research of Laughlin (1988Laughlin ( , 1990, Booth (1993Booth ( , 1995, Swanson and Gardner (1986) and Faircloth (1988) made this stream of contrasting features of the secular function of accounting with the sacred objectives of religious institutions a dominant lens. ...
... In the Renaissance period, the calculation of interests was disguised in financial instruments, such as bills of exchange in a way that differentiated it from usury. Accounting is implicated in a fertile arena for productive debate, mediation, compromise and innovative interrogation of what constitutes acceptable spiritual ideals (Laughlin, 1988;Booth, 1993;Mattessich, 1995;Thompson, 1991;Jacobs and Walker, 2004;Carmona and Ezzamel, 2006;Quattrone, 2004). Accounting helps to speculate how spirituality could be managed in a way to link the interests of various actors within and beyond the boundaries of commercial worldly needs to socio-economical dimensions (Chenhall et al., 2013;Quattrone, 2015). ...
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... The first stream of research focuses on formal accountability and includes activities based on diverse accounting technologies, such as audits and formal reports (Joannidès De Lautour et al., 2021;Roberts, 1991), while the second one highlights positive accountability and day-to-day informal accountability practices, such as personal exchanges and various forms of verbal communication (Joannidès, 2012;Roberts et al., 2006). One of the very first papers investigating accounting systems in religious organisations is a seminal work by Laughlin (1988) that has been identified as instigating a research network on accounting, accountability, and religion (Joannidès & Berland, 2013). Laughlin (1988), supported by Booth (1993), introduced the idea of a sacred-secular divide in religious organisations, with the sacred (religious) practices being prioritised over secular elements (e.g., formal accountability practices) that help facilitate the achievement of the sacred goals (Laughlin, 2007). ...
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... Pre factum accountability as future-oriented (Mashaw, 2014), generally corresponds with the process of formulating expectations. However, pre factum accountability is also enacted to ensure that desired events or results occur; typically reflecting internal controls adopted within an organisation (Laughlin, 1988). In organisational processes, this type of accountability corresponds with activities such as planning, budgeting, formulating performance measures, and signing contracts (Roberts & Scapens, 1985). ...
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Foucault identified the roots of governmentality in religious beliefs and religious history with its genealogical core the equivalent of pastoral power, the art of governing people by relying on a dualistic logic; individualization and totalization. This technology of power arose and matured within the Roman Catholic Church and provided a model for many states in the achievement and exercise of power. Informed by the work of Foucault on pastoral power the present work examines the genealogical core of governmentality in the context of the Roman Catholic Church at a time of great crisis in the 15th century when the Roman Catholic Church was undergoing reform instituted by Pope Eugenius IV (1431–1447). The contributions of accounting to pastoral power are shown in this study to have been pivotal in restoring the Church's standing and influence. Accounting was one of the technologies that allowed the bishops to control both the diocese as a whole and each priest, to subjugate the priests to the bishops’ authority and, thereby, to govern the diocese through a never-ending extraction of truth.
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Purpose: Benedictine abbeys are highly stable organisations that have existed for almost 1,500 years. The extant literature ascribes this stability in part to the notion of Benedictine governance, which centres on the Rule of St. Benedict. An integral part of Benedictine governance is the cellarer, who plays a role comparable to that of a chief financial officer (CFO) in a traditional corporation. Unlike corporations, however, in which the CFO has emerged into a more important role over the past few decades, the cellarer has been an official position in Benedictine abbeys since the introduction of the Rule of St. Benedict in the sixth century. The present paper explores the cellarer’s role and assesses which parts of it could be reasonably transferred to the corporate world. Design/methodology/approach: Informed by organisational role theory, we conducted a single case study in an Austrian Benedictine abbey. We used group discussions and semistructured interviews as the main research instruments. Findings: We find that the cellarer’s behaviour shows strong signs of stewardship, which could serve as a role model for corporate CFOs. However, because of the studied abbey’s situation of financial distress, the cellarer also experienced severe role conflicts rooted in his obedience to the abbot, the high involvement of the abbey in the local economy, and the cellarer’s conscience as a Christian monk. From these findings, we describe those aspects of the cellarer’s role that should thus be avoided for corporate CFOs. Research limitations/implications: The presented findings are based on a single case study. Therefore, because of the contextual factors idiosyncratic to the abbey under investigation, the results must be interpreted with care. Nevertheless, the findings explain the cellarer’s role and depict its potential benefits for the corporate world, which should induce further research. Originality/value: This is the first paper to explore in-depth the cellarer’s role as well as one of the first to transfer the potential benefits of single roles rooted in Benedictine governance to the corporate world.
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Purpose – This paper aims to analyze how performance may be defined in the context of a religious organization. The authors do so by studying the case of a Benedictine abbey. Design/methodology/approach – Using an etymologically derived understanding of performance, and predominantly based on the Regula Benedicti (the central guideline for Benedictine monks), the authors first conceptually develop an understanding of performance in Benedictine abbeys. The authors then apply this understanding in a single case study. Findings – The authors found that in order to comply with the Benedictine mission laid out in the Regula Benedicti, Benedictine abbeys need to balance sacred and secular goals. The authors also derived six key actions in order to accomplish these goals. The case study shows that an imbalance in these key actions may cause severe (financial) distress. Research limitations/implications – The study provides an alternative framing of the term “performance” and further evidence that only a combined pursuit of sacred and secular goals seems useful for religious organizations. Researchers interested in religious organizations might find the conceptual approach and findings useful to analyze performance in such organizations. Practical implications – Benedictine abbeys and other religious organizations may find the analysis valuable to critically analyze their current strategies and focal activities. Moreover, this paper’s results might also be worthwhile for other faith-based or third-sector organizations when seeking an alternative framing of performance. Originality/value – This paper provides a new framing of “performance” and is the first to analyze what performance might mean in the context of a Benedictine abbey.
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Professor Richard Laughlin is renowned for applying critical insights from the German philosopher, Jurgen Habermas. His middle range research approach has explored many accounting problems such as public–private partnerships, health care reforms and how accounting impacts cultural issues. Laughlin's work re-conceptualises accountability in terms of cultural analysis, language and systems theory. Users of his work may encounter issues associated with: (1) understanding how to judge assertoric statements concerning various truth claims; (2) exploring the dichotomy between the secular and sacred; and (3) examining whether language simply designates meaning or opens us to interpretive new pathways.
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