预算编制外文文献翻译中英文.docx

预算编制外文文献翻译中英文.docx

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预算编制外文文献翻译中英文

预算编制外文翻译中英文2020

英文

Budgetmaking:

Thetheatricalpresentationofaccountingdiscourse

LawrenceCorrigan

Abstract

Thisinterpretativeresearchengageswithcallsforavisualturninaccountingbypresentingstagyempiricalillustrationsofmunicipal budgeting thatdrawuponGoffman’sdramaturgicalframework.Thebudgetistheorizedasvisualandtheatrical.Analysisofvideorecordingsofbudgetmeetingsandon-sceneobservationofbudget-makingatasiteofcitymanagementrevealvisualtriggers,rhetoric,andframingthatconstitutebudgetingasvisualdiscourse.Acentralimpressionpresentedinthispaperisthatofuncontrollability.Theapparatusofbudgetingiscomplexandgrowsinanundisturbedway,giventhatbudgetactorsseemtobepassiveintakingleadershiprolestosubstantivelypromotechange.Thispaperdrawsattentiontonumerouselementsofbudget-makingthathighlightvisualaccountingaspartofitsapparatus.ThisviewisincontrasttoclassictheoriesofcontrollabilitythatclaimWeberianbureaucraticidealsofrationality,efficiency,andprofessionalism.Twoscholarlycontributionsareclaimed.First,thispaperjoinsagrowingacademicconversationaboutvisualaccounting,andextendsthisdiscussionwithanexemplarofmanagementaccounting.Untilrecently,thevisualhasbeeninappropriatelyneglectedinaccountingresearch,particularlyinstudiesofthepublicsector.Second,thispaperappliesGoffman’s dramaturgy,anunderusedperspectiveintheaccountingliteratureandathought-provokingmethodologywithacapacityforwhatmayberegardedas“visualcritique”.

Keywords：

Visualaccounting，Municipaladministration，Budget，Dramaturgy，Accountingdiscourse

Introduction

Theaccountingmilieu,andsociallifeingeneral,isimmenselyvisual.Thispapercallsattentiontoinfluentialvisualmaterialinperformancesofaccountingauthorityandcontributestoanascentacademicconversationaroundcriticalvisualanalysisinaccounting（Brown,2010, Davison,2015, Davisonetal.,2015, MalschandGendron,2009, Meyeretal.,2013）.Abroaddefinitionofthevisualisemployedinthispaper;forexample,pictures,diagrams,spreadsheets,ritualenactments,videos,webpages,televisionscreens,graphs,andartefactsinthephysicalspaceswhereinteractiontakesplace.

Accountingresearchershavebeeninterestedinthevisualforatleastseveraldecades.However,unlikeotherdisciplinessuchasthehumanitiesandsocialstudies,thisstreamofresearchhasnotbeenprominent.“Visualityhasbeenneglecteddespiteaccountinghavingastrongvisualresonance”（Brown,2010,p.486）.Thecallformorevisualresearchinaccountingbeganinearnestwithaspecialissueof Accounting,Auditing&AccountabilityJournal （AAAJ,2009）.Itwassuggestedthat“therewasablindspotwithregardtothevisualinbothaccountingandorganizationstudies”（Davison&Warren,2009,p.845）. Davison（2015） alsoarguesthatuntilrecentlythevisualhasbeenmostlyabsentinaccountingstudies.Importantforthefocusofmypaper, Davison’s（2015） synthesisof83articlesinthevisualaccountingfield,whichrevealsaninfrequentuseofdrama-basedtheoreticalapproaches,claimsthattherehasbeen“noworkonthepublicsectororonmanagementaccounting”（p.148）.Thisopinionissupportedby Meyeretal.（2013）whoclaimthatvisualmodesofmeaningconstructioninorganizationandmanagementresearchremaininactiveandrequiremorequantityandcontrastingtypesofmethodologies. Lapsley,Miller,andPanozzo（2010,p.305） callforaccountingresearchbasedon“visualizingandcalculatingthecity”becausetheyhavefoundthatmunicipalitieshavereceivedlittleattentionregardingthevisual.Thus,thevisualturn,nearlyadecadeafteritsintroductioninAAAJ,isstillinneedofavarietyofempiricalillustrationsofitstheoreticalconcepts.

Thispaperanswersthecallforavisualturninaccountingbypayingattentiontohowactorsinmunicipaladministrationusevisualimagestoachievefinancial patronage1 inbudgetpractices.Itdoessointertextuallybybringing dramaturgy（Goffman,1959, Goffman,1967, Goffman,1974）explicitlyintotheemergingliteratureonvisualaccounting.Thefollowingsamplingofarticlesillustratestherathereclecticnatureofthisliterature. Bettner,Frandsen,andMcGoun（2010）discusstheprevalentvisualcultureofaccounting–aculturethatteachesushowtovisuallyseeknowledgepatterns.Theyclaimthatitispossibletoalso“hear”patterns（listeningtoaccounting）toaurallyfindknowledge. Brown（2010）consideredchallengesandprospectsofaccountingandvisualculturalstudies.Sheconcludedthatthisconfluenceenablesstrategicaccountingtocritiqueandresistdominantmodesofthinking. Meyeretal.（2013） showhowvisualsdisguisedasinformation,ratherthanargument,becomereified–enhancingtheirpowertodominate,eventhoughsuchdominationisseldommadeexplicit.Ithasbeensuggestedelsewherethatvisualaccountinginannualreportsisladenwithvestigesofarchaicreligioussymbolism（Davison,2004）,includingvisualsthatoftenadoptsacredimagesofascension.Visualaccountabilityhasalsobeenexploredinthecontextofaccountingformunicipalprojects（Czarniawska,2010）;thearticlediscussesinterpretativeframeworksforstudyingcitymanagementandenrichesthediscussionbyincludingvisualreportingoftheauthor’sphotographs.

Althoughtheaboveintroductionindicatesalackofvisualaccountingliteratureusingdrama-basedtheory,especiallyrelatedtothepublicsector,someextantstudiesareparticularlyrelevanttothispaper. Mueller（2017） notedthataccountingresearchhasoccasionallycalleduponGoffmanianideas（Muellerlistssevenarticleswithpublicationdatesreachingbackto1985）butheclaimsthatnosystematicworkhasyetbeenofsignificanceinthefieldofaccounting. Mueller（2017）addressesthatgapbytakingdramaturgyseriouslyandapplyingaspectsoftheinteractionordertotheperformanceofstrategyinorganizations.ThedramaturgyofinteractionsisathemethatrunsthroughoutGoffman’swork.Intheareaofsocialaccounting, Jones（2011） usesGoffman’sconceptofimpressionmanagementtoassesstheuse,abuse,andvisualimpactofgraphsinenvironmentalaccounting. Jones（2011） notestheextensiveaccountingliteratureconcernedwithearningsmanagementandhebroadensthisideatowardpresentationalmanagementsuchasaccountingnarrativesandgraphs.

Followingadramaturgicalframework（Goffman,1959）,myresearchexaminesthebudgetprocessesofHalifaxRegionalMunicipality whereoperationalboundariesgiverisetofiercecontestsconcerningpoliticalallocationofscarceresources.“Theatrical”analysisofaccountingdiscoursehelpsusrealizethatimpressionmanagementin budgeting involvesskillfuluseofimagery.Thispapercontributestovisualaccountingbyfocusingonmunicipalbudgeting.Specifically,accountingresearchersareencouragedtounderstandbudget-makingasvisualandtheatricalratherthanuncriticallyseeingbudgetingasanall-too-mundaneadministrativepractice.Ifonewishestoimagineaccountingasavisualtheatricalperformance,whatsucceedsatreceiving（orwhatfailstoreceive）publicfundingshouldbeofgreatinterest.ThebudgetprocessesoftheHalifaxCityCouncilmaybeseenastheatricalexperiencewhereinterestsoftheactorsaresustainedonlybysubmittingtostagedperformancesinanorganizeddisputeoveroperatingandcapitalfinancing.Thispaperexamineshowthevisualisinvolvedinargumentandcounter-argumentsurroundingtheformalperformanceofmunicipalbudgetratification.Goffmanreferstotheseperformancesas“expressiongames”（1969,p.10）,wherethestructureofinteractionsisdependentonthecontrolandasymmetryofinformation.Accordingly,“thebudget”issociallyconstructedandcomplex;itcanswiftlyconvertfromasingleobjectintoawebofthousandsofindividualbudgetlineitemsandahostofassumptions,calculations,legalcommitments,andwildguesses.Municipalbudgetingisalsoaffectedbyapolyphonicvoice3 （Bakhtin,1981）becausemanycompetingbitsandpiecesofadvice（mostlyunaskedfor）independentlyreachtheearsofelectedofficialsinthelead-uptoformalmeetingsoftheCouncil.Strategicvisualization（numbers,words,images,aswellasaccountingstorytelling）isneededtorespondtopolyphonicovertonesandtocommunicateoverwhelmingbudgettexts.IntheHalifaxbudgetstorytofollow,theplayers（municipalmanagement,electedofficials,staffmembers,thenewsmedia,others）visuallyandtheatricallyperforma“good”budgeteventhoughitimposesanunwantedtaxincrease.Highertaxratesareembeddedinacomplexsetofaccountingcalculationsandableto“disappearfromview”eventhoughthesubjectoftaxationremainsinplainsightofthemunicipalactors.

Theoreticalframework–dramaturgy

Dramaturgy isaqualitativeresearchtraditionthatgrewfrom Goffman’s（1959）notionofsocialperformances.Dramaturgyacceptsafundamentalbeliefinthetheatricalityoforganizingandresonateswithdramaticvisualelementsthatareintegraltobudgetaccounting.Goffmanusedthelanguageoftheatreandcalleduponnumerousdramaturgicaltermstoexpoundonthepresentationofselfinsocialsituations.Goffman’sontologicalstanceincludesthenotionthattheindividualisacrafteroftheself.Inthisrespect,Goffmanstands-outamongsymbolicinteractionistsasonewholeanstowardasubjectivistorientation（althoughnotallwouldagreewithacategorizationofGoffmanasasymbolicinteractionist,asdiscussedin Baert,1998）.Indeed,dramaturgyisdifficulttosituateparadigmatically.Thephilosophicalassumptionsunderlyingdramaturgyarisefroman