Steccolini, Ileana and Barbera, Carmela (2025) Translating, Resisting or Escalating Government Programs? Accounting at the Intersection of Centrally-imposed Programs and Local Responses. Contemporary Accounting Research. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.13033
Steccolini, Ileana and Barbera, Carmela (2025) Translating, Resisting or Escalating Government Programs? Accounting at the Intersection of Centrally-imposed Programs and Local Responses. Contemporary Accounting Research. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.13033
Steccolini, Ileana and Barbera, Carmela (2025) Translating, Resisting or Escalating Government Programs? Accounting at the Intersection of Centrally-imposed Programs and Local Responses. Contemporary Accounting Research. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.13033
Abstract
This article examines the role of accounting in the recursive processes of continuous adjustment to programs that emerge when programs are imposed by central government on local government. Focusing on the Italian context and adopting the conceptual lens of governmentality, our study contributes to the extant literature by highlighting the role of accounting in the power dynamics and transactional realities at the intersection between the governors and the governed. In doing so, it considers how accounting can shape plural local government conducts and counter-conducts and how this, in turn, affects programs imposed centrally. It also sheds light on the transactional realities inherent in multiple, layered forms of central disciplining power and how this plays out to recursively redefine central discipline and local autonomy. The study highlights the importance of considering the different ways in which power is enacted and resisted through accounting in governmentality studies. By taking a pluralist and dynamic view of the ways in which programs are implemented, the study reveals multiple local translations and outcomes, as well as the underlying power dynamics at play.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | counter-conduct; governmentality; local governments; power; roles of accounting; translation |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Essex Business School Faculty of Social Sciences > Essex Business School > Essex Accounting Centre |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 16 Apr 2025 15:30 |
Last Modified: | 09 May 2025 09:14 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/40293 |
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Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0