Accounting, Capitalism and the Revealed Religions (eBook)

Dr Vassili Joannidès de Lautour is an Associate Professor of Management Control at Grenoble École de Management, France, and at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. His research interests and publications focus on the religious foundations of contemporary accounting technologies and practices. His work has been published in journals including Critical Perspectives on Accounting and Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change and a board member of several other journals.

Foreword 6
Contents 8
List of Figures 11
1: Introduction 12
1 Accounting as a Rational and Systematic Practice 14
1.1 Accounting as the Balancing of Debits and Credits 14
1.2 Accounting as Means of Accountability 16
2 Religion as the Linking of People 18
2.1 Religion as an Individual Encounter 18
2.2 Religion as Community 20
2.3 Religion as Doctrines 22
Bibliography 24
2: The Book and the Spirits of Capitalism 27
1 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 28
2 Judaism and Modern Capitalism 30
3 Renaissance Italy’s Catholicism as the Spirit of Profitmaking 33
4 Islam, the Arab World and Early Capitalistic Practices 36
Conclusion 38
Bibliography 39
3: The Book as the Spirits of Accounting 42
1 Accounting for the Law in Judaism 43
2 Accounting for Original Sin in Roman Catholicism 47
3 Accounting for the Sharia in Islam 51
4 Accounting for Blessings in Protestantism 54
Bibliography 57
4: Religions and Contemporary Accounting Issues 61
1 Lessons Learnt from the Four Religions 62
2 Implications for Contemporary Accounting 66
2.1 World Dualism as Accounting’s Grounds 66
2.2 Religious Accounting’s Influence on Business Accountability 68
3 Lessons for Contemporary Accountability 69
3.1 Accounting’s Raison d’Être Revisited 69
3.2 Contemporary Accountability as Fidelity to the Event 71
3.3 Fidelity to the Event in Business Organisations 73
Conclusion 76
Bibliography 76
5: A Review of the Literature 83
1 The Evolution of Knowledge and Debates 84
1.1 Religion as the Social Context in which Accounting Can Operate 84
1.2 Accounting and Religion Extended to Accounting in Nonprofits 87
1.3 Towards Theological Perspectives on Accounting 89
1.4 Back to Accounting History 93
1.5 Alternative Theologies as Critical Perspectives on Accounting 95
2 Religious Affiliation’s Impact on Accounting Research Projects 97
2.1 The Sacred–Secular Divide Stream: Outsiders’ Insights 98
2.2 The Refutation of the Sacred–Secular Divide: Insiders’ Perspectives 102
2.3 The Accounting-as-Religious-Practice Stream: Insiders’ Insights 103
Conclusion 105
Bibliography 106
6: An Example—The Salvation Army 110
1 Capitalism and Accounting Spirituality in the Salvation Army 112
2 Balancing Faith and Action 118
2.1 Evaluating and Recording Faith 119
2.2 Employment 123
2.3 Volunteering 125
3 Balancing Witness and Collections 129
3.1 Witnessing While Doing Social Work 129
3.2 Witnessing Before Civil Society and Accountability to Stakeholder 132
3.3 Witnessing While Wearing the Uniform 138
3.4 Accounting for Witnessing and Collections 140
Conclusion 145
Bibliography 147
7: Conclusion 150
1 Theorising Accounting and Religion 150
1.1 On the Self Subrogating God in the Divine Realm 151
1.2 On the Church Subrogating God in the Private Realm 153
1.3 On Civil Society Subrogating God in the Public Realm 157
2 Lessons and Research Agenda 163
Bibliography 166
Further Readings 171
Judaism 171
Roman Catholicism 172
Islam 173
Index 175