Accountant's Truth: Knowledge and Ethics in the Financial World

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Notes

Gill does quote Nietzsche, but not the passage above. I think this passage more adequately expresses his argument, but rather he quotes a passage four pages further on:Only by forgetting that primitive world of metaphors, only by the congelation and coagulation of an original mass of similes and precepts pouring forth as a fiery liquid out of the primal faculty of human fancy, only by the invincible faith, that this sun, this window, this table is a truth in itself: in short only by the fact that man forgets himself as subject, and what is more as an artistically creating subject: only by all this does he live with some repose, safety and consequence. (Nietzsche, 1964, p. 184)

I would contrast this with the work of Haynes, who carefully defends her choice of interview subjects (see Haynes, 2008a, 2008b, 2010).

Foucault has four traditions in his writing: archaeology, genealogy, problematisation and the cynics.

There are many more examples throughout the texts, including sections that are about the relationship between meso-accountant and accounting partner, such as Chapter 2 on ‘performance and truthfulness’ and the section on ‘firm as family’ (see Gill, 2009, pp. 21–39, 86–90).

Gill acknowledges the importance of senior partners, but states that the study is the study of day-to-day accounting and that senior accountants manage the work, rather than do the work. However, it is precisely this level of control (the management of work and the ultimate signing authority – meso-accountants perform their work in the name of a managing partner) that sets aspects of the ethical agenda.