Accounting and the global fight against corruption

Abstract

This paper draws on a governmentality framing to consider the global fight against corruption and the role of accounting in that fight. Specifically it examines two contrasting modes of thought or ‘mentalities’ in the anticorruption field and the manner in which they shape, envision, and constitute the cultural and technological practice of accounting. The first of these—the orthodox mentality—is evident in the programmatic discourses and academic research of the major anticorruption organizations (esp., the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, OECD, and Transparency International). This mentality has us envision accounting’s involvement in the fight as part of a relatively unproblematic if not noble cause. The second, radical mentality draws on race-, gender-, and class-based commentaries and has us see accounting’s involvement in more ambivalent terms: as a potential enabler but also a potential constrainer of economic accountability and the achievement of the liberal republican dream.