This paper studies the identity transitions of East German audit recruits during the fundamental ideological, economic, and societal change brought about by the reunification of Germany in 1990. Integrating the identity work literature with key concepts from Pierre Bourdieu and Erving Goffman, we build on semi-structured interviews with two groups of recruits—university graduates and former state auditors—to explore and theorize the marked differences observed in these recruits' transition processes. In line with wider processes of territorial stigmatization, we argue that the West German audit firms pragmatically instrumentalized their local personnel, seeking to deploy them without intending to integrate them into the profession. In turn, the audit recruits met with this exertion of symbolic violence by managing a 'spoiled identity'. The university graduates found it easier to recognize and accumulate legitimate forms of capital, thereby submitting themselves to the inculcation of the profession's socialization process, which ultimately yielded their institution into the profession. In contrast, the former state auditors' local knowledge and access to client networks provided immediately useful capital to the West German firms, which, however, sought to retain a status differential vis-à-vis these recruits. As a result of such strategies of condescension, the former state auditors maintained key aspects of their identity as a salient part of their self-conception. We further highlight the role of the local audit offices in the recruits' transition processes, as they evolved from flexible spaces, which allowed for experimentation and improvisation, into more structured units. This process embedded professional values and practices, thereby creating localized office identities.

Language and translation in accounting: a scandal of silence and displacement?This AAAJ special issue on language and translation in accounting arose from our own growing understanding of how translation affects accounting research, practice and education.We acknowledge, in our own papers included here (

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to increase the awareness of the implications of language translation for accounting standard setting, education and research, and to work towards a critical research agenda.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a selective review of recent intercultural accounting research and literature on translation in accounting, of developments in accounting standard setting and on selected insights from translation studies.FindingsTranslation is not a simple technical, but a socio-cultural, subjective and ideological process. In contrast to the translation turn in other disciplines, however, most qualitative and critical accounting research neglects translation as a methodological and epistemological consideration and as a research opportunity.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper proposes themes for a research agenda on translation in accounting.Originality/valueThe paper identifies opportunities for further and deeper investigations of translation in accounting regulation, education and research. Particular emphasis is given to the implication of translation in accounting research that is grounded in interpretivist and constructivist paradigms, where translation is inextricably linked with data analysis and interpretation and may inadvertently reproduce cultural hegemonies.

Drawing on Weber's [(1972). Wirtschaft and Gesellschaft: Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie [Economy and society. An outline of interpretive sociology]. (5th ed.). Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck] theories of social stratification and closure, and on Parkin's [(1979). Marxism and class theory. London: Tavistock] development thereof, this paper contributes a case study of Germany to the literature on closure processes (rather than outcomes), and outcomes falling short of professionalization. It explores the early history of the first German association of auditors, the Verband Deutscher Bacherrevisoren (VDB), founded in 1896. The paper traces how closure was pursued, at various times, by different means and to different degrees, depending on the changing social, economic and political contexts and on changing perception of what would best serve the association's interest. By thus focusing on the shifting aims and strategies of the VDB, the paper contributes new insights into the dynamics within professions and between professions and their environments, and the dynamics and conditions underlying failed professionalization projects. The paper shows that, while the VDB had a degree of success in creating many of the structure and processes of a modern professional body, its ambition to achieve market and professional closure was not fulfilled.

Drawing on Weber’s (1972) theories of social stratification and closure, and on Parkin’s (1979) development thereof, this paper contributes a case study of Germany to the literature on closure processes (rather than outcomes), and outcomes falling short of professionalization. It explores the early history of the first German association of auditors, the Verband Deutscher Bücherrevisoren (VDB), founded in 1896. The paper traces how closure was pursued, at various times, by different means and to different degrees, depending on the changing social, economic and political contexts and on changing perception of what would best serve the association’s interest. By thus focusing on the shifting aims and strategies of the VDB, the paper contributes new insights into the dynamics within professions and between professions and their environments, and the dynamics and conditions underlying failed professionalization projects. The paper shows that, while the VDB had a degree of success in creating many of the structure and processes of a modern professional body, its ambition to achieve market and professional closure was not fulfilled.

‘Translation is a vital part of achieving the IFRS Foundation’s mission to develop a single set of high-quality global accounting standards for use around the world’ (IASB website) ‘ ... translation is a highly manipulative activity that involves all kind of stages in that process of transfer across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Translation is not an innocent, transparent activity but it is highly charged with significance at every stage; it rarely, if ever, involves a relationship of equality between texts, authors or systems’ (Bassnett and Trivedi 2012, 2) Translation – across languages and cultures – plays a critical role in accounting. It is required in international trade, in operating and accounting for multinational enterprises, in creating, implementing and enforcing international accounting laws and standards, in delivering accounting education to international cohorts of students, and in conducting international and intercultural research. Financial statements and annual reports, standards and standard setting discourse, teaching materials and publication of research findings all require translation for at least some constituents. Accounting research explores annual report narratives or regulatory discourse, employs content analysis or disclosure indices, conducts interview, experimental and survey research, and draws on theoretical frameworks, all often across cultural and language boundaries. However, exact equivalence in translation is rare; there is no one-to one semantic correspondence of concepts between different language-cultures (Catford 1965; Venuti 1995). This is especially the case when a subject or discipline – such as accounting – is culture-specific, socially constructed, inherently indeterminate or ideological (Evans 2004; Evans, Baskerville, and Nara 2015). It cannot be assumed, therefore, that ‘all ways of viewing the social world can be straightforwardly captured using the English language’ (Temple, 2013, 100), nor that an objective reality can be obtained by translation (Xian 2008). Instead, translation is implicated in uneven power relationships (Bassnett and Trivedi 2012, 3; Simon 1997). In spite of this, with few exceptions, accounting largely appears to neglect translation – both as a research opportunity and as a methodological and epistemological consideration. This is in contrast to the ‘translation turn’ in other disciplines. However, research on language use and translation in accounting has the potential to have real world impact – for example, the IFRS Foundation has recently called for research on language and cultural influences on the international application of its standards. Finally, engagement with translation does not have to be limited to interlingual

This paper explores the implications of language translation in accounting. It draws on research on translation in other disciplines, and on insights from applied linguistics. It examines practical problems and solutions explored in other disciplines that we deem relevant to accounting. The paper also examines the ideological, cultural, legal, and political consequences of translation. We find that the ambiguity inherent in translation is, on the one hand, relevant for the translation of accounting principles and can contribute to accounting convergence. We show, on the other hand, that it has the potential to be exploited in ideologically or pragmatically motivated distortions in the implementation of accounting regulation. We further argue that the importance of translation in accounting is underestimated or disregarded, inter alia because it has limited effect on the culturally and economically most dominant stakeholders. We finally examine the implications of translation problems for less powerful stakeholders and smaller language communities.

We analyse the annual report narratives, between 1801 and 1914, of the Edinburgh Magdalen Asylum, a reformatory for ‘fallen’ women. We aim to provide new insights by combining interdisciplinary perspectives: the work of Erving Goffman on stigma, asylums, impression management and framing, and writings on literary genres, in particular eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction. We also contribute to research on the annual report as source material for social history and to accounting histories of women. We find that the narratives were employed to discharge the directors’ accountability by portraying their work and the asylum as socially and economically useful, accounting for the inmates in their charge, securing funding and finding suitable employment for inmates after release. The narratives and their subjects were framed in accordance with conventions of sentimental novels and recurring literary plot structures. By creating a dichotomy between victims of seduction and ‘hardened’ prostitutes, the directors could manage expectations: not all Magdalens could be saved. On the other hand, this dichotomy allowed the directors to advertise their ‘product’ in the market for domestic labour: Case histories and personal narratives were presented to show that the remorseful Magdalen could become a docile domestic servant and productive citizen.

Social and economic transitions usually go along with changes in accounting and audit regulation that are typically shaped by the accounting profession. In many cases, these processes are characterized by the profession's interaction with state institutions. We analyze the transformation of accounting and audit regulation in the course of the German reunification between 1989 and 1990 which was characterized by regulatory chaos as a consequence of the absence of the state. Based on a framework of knowledge exchange and power we conducted interviews with 35 East and West German accounting and audit professionals to explore how the profession shaped the transitional regulatory space and to examine practices, norms and rites employed at that time. We find that, after an initial period of symbiosis between East German and West German professionals, the West German profession soon dominated the transition. However, the interaction of East and West German auditors was characterized by a dominating pragmatism, which not only facilitated the integration of the East German professionals but was crucial to make the profession successfully shape the regulatory space in the absence of state institutions.

We examine the effect of family control on IFRS mandatory disclosure levels, and the valuation implications of these disclosure levels, for Malaysian companies. We find that family control is related negatively to disclosure and that compliance levels are not value relevant. These findings suggest that agency theory predictions and theories linking common law legal systems to high quality financial reporting require refining in certain national contexts. Where Type 2 agency problems dominate, institutional arrangements intended to enhance financial reporting quality aimed at mitigating Type 1 problems in developed markets may have limited effect in less developed jurisdictions.

Many EAA members see Accounting in Europe simply as a continuation in independent form of a section from the European Accounting Review (EAR). There is a good deal that backs that perception, but the present journal is also an expression of a desire not to let academic discourse become exclusively the domain of quantitative research, and a desire to maintain links with the world of practicing accountants. Another way to look at it would be that Accounting in Europe was intended to provide an outlet for articles that were more in the tradition of law schools and medical schools and less in the tradition of academic economics and finance. Looking at the origins of the journal, when the EAA started the EAR the aim was to have a journal that would showcase European accounting research. The EAA had produced a few issues of an embryo journal (see Loft et al., 2002) which did not have an editorial board or a formal reviewing system. EAR was built upon these, but with the intention of being a peer-reviewed scientific journal. At the same time the EAA Publications Committee, chaired by the late Anthony Hopwood, did not want to lose sight of the fact that the EAA drew its membership from widely different traditions. EAR was not at that

PurposeThe paper aims to explore the social origins of Scottish chartered accountants and the accounting stereotype as portrayed in popular fiction.Design/methodology/approachThe detective novels of the Scottish chartered accountant Alexander Clark Smith are used as a lens through which to explore the social origins of accountants and the changing popular representations of the accountant.FindingsThe novels contribute to our understanding of the construction of accounting stereotypes and of the social origins of Scottish accountants. They suggest that, while working class access to the profession was a reality, so was class division within it. In addition, Smith was ahead of contemporary professional discourse in creating a protagonist who combines the positive aspects of the traditional stereotype with qualities of a private‐eye action‐hero, and who uses accounting skills to uncover corruption and address (social) wrongs. However, this unconventional portrayal may have been incongruent with the image the profession wished to portray. The public image (or stereotype) portrayed by its members would have been as important in signalling and maintaining the profession's collective status as the recruitment of its leadership from social elites.Originality/valueSmith's portrayal of accountants in personal and societal settings at a time of profound social change, as well as his background in the Scottish profession, provide a rich source for the study of social origins of Scottish chartered accountancy during the first half of the twentieth century. Further, Smith's novels are of a popular genre, and innovative in the construction of their hero and of accounting itself; as such they merit attention because of their potential to influence the construction of the accounting stereotype(s) within the popular imagination.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the degree to which debate about translation in the EU, and translation specifically of IFRS in the EU, generates both: - Deeply held convictions about language; and - Diversity of views on key issues even within translators into one language group. This study describes the empirics and method of data collection, and then offers detailed analysis of five issues faced by translators, drawing examples from each of the major language family groups in the EU. The data used in this study are derived from 109 responses to a survey of IFRS translators, members of IFRS translation committees or review panels, and textbook writers in the EU; undertaken in 2009. Each ‘Language Family Example’ illustrates deeply-held convictions about language; and diversity of views even among highly experienced translators. These empirical data also illustrate translators’ awareness that the ‘English’ in which IFRS are written may impact on the ease or difficulties in translation. In nation-states where there is a relatively low level of foreign language study, there may be a greater number of accounting teachers, standard-setters, textbook writers and regulators who are unaware of such diversity and emotion. This study contributes towards understanding some key language issues during the IFRS convergence programme.

Purpose - The paper aims to explore the social origins of Scottish chartered accountants and the accounting stereotype as portrayed in popular fiction.Design/methodology/approach - The detective novels of the Scottish chartered accountant Alexander Clark Smith are used as a lens through which to explore the social origins of accountants and the changing popular representations of the accountant.Findings - The novels contribute to our understanding of the construction of accounting stereotypes and of the social origins of Scottish accountants. They suggest that, while working class access to the profession was a reality, so was class division within it. In addition, Smith was ahead of contemporary professional discourse in mating a protagonist who combines the positive aspects of the traditional stereotype with qualities of a private-eye action-hero, and who uses accounting skills to uncover corruption and address (social) wrongs. However, this unconventional portrayal may have been incongruent with the image the profession wished to portray. The public image (or stereotype) portrayed by its members would have been as important in signalling and maintaining the profession's collective status as the recruitment of its leadership from social elites.Originality/value - Smith's portrayal of accountants in personal and societal settings at a time of profound social change, as well as his background in the Scottish profession, provide a rich source for the study of social origins of Scottish chartered accountancy during the first half of the twentieth century. Further, Smith's novels are of a popular genre, and innovative in the construction of their hero and of accounting itself; as such they merit attention because of their potential to influence the construction of the accounting stereotype(s) within the popular imagination.