International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management
Conference call for papers from Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management
IFSAM 2010 in Paris, July 8- 10, 2010.
Special Track: Truth and fairness in accounting, auditing and finance: what do we learn from political philosophers?
We have hardly begun to tap the potential of political philosophy to develop a more robust foundation for research in accounting and finance. The objective of this track is to explore how political philosophy has been used as a reference discipline in accounting and finance research, and how it could be used in the future. The focus is to examine fairness in the extent of disclosure necessary (and its impact on stakeholders), and fairness in intrafirm reporting (and its impact on managerial behaviour). Understanding concepts such as truth and fairness, and managing their ethical implications, is a vital issue.
Fairness has an important place in the practice of accounting, auditing and finance. For example, it is stated in the auditor's report that the financial statements present fairly the results of operations in conformity with accounting principles. This view of fairness is rather “limited calling for expansion of the notion of fairness to deal with distribution, disclosure and resource allocation considerations” (Monty-Belkaoui and Rihai-Belkaoui, 1996). If the conventional nature of the concept of fairness in accounting is based on representation and has little connection to the idea of justice in outcome, this track will investigate the moral dimension of fairness in accounting and finance.
It seems appropriate that we turn to political philosophy as a relevant way of understanding truth and fairness in accounting, auditing and finance. Some authors have already underlined the key role played by philosophy in accounting research. Several philosophical concepts and theories could be applied to accounting, such as social justice, ethical consciousness, liberty, economic entitlement, opportunism, procedural justice.
In this track, we welcome research which draws on critical political philosophy (for example Rawls, Habermas, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Smith, Hobbes, Kant, Marx) to understand the meaning of truth and fairness in accounting, auditing and finance, and seek ways to improve accounting thought and practice. We particularly encourage contributions influenced by some recent political philosophy- eg Derrida, Taylor, Latour and Bourdieu.
Co-track chairs:
David Cooper, School of Business, University of Alberta.
david.cooper@ualberta.ca
Christine Noël, Associate professor of Accounting and Law, Audencia Nantes School of Management
8 route de la Jonelière, 44312 Nantes
Send electronic submission to Christine Noël (at cnoel@audencia.com) by 30 November 2009