Accounting and the interpretive act

Abstract

The structuration theory of Anthony Giddens has been employed by Macintosh & Scapens (Accounting, Organizations and Society, 1990, pp. 455–477) to argue that management accounting systems are the interpretive schemes, facilities and norms used by managements to make plans, take actions and control others in organizations. A study of managers reading management accounting reports challenges that image, and shows managers to be more potent and inventive creators of meaning than Macintosh and Scapens would suggest. As readers of management accounting reports, managers draw from a wide range of interpretive schemes, facilities and norms in making their interpretations. Management accounting systems may mediate this interpretive process, but they can do so in surprising and unexpected ways.