Ingrid Jeacle

Abstract: A proliferation of rankings and league tables increasingly permeate everyday life. An objective of this paper is to explain the profusion of such rankings, in particular on-line user review rankings, in contemporary society and what this means for our understanding of the role of accounting. The online travel website TripAdvisor and its hotel ranking system is a prominent example of this new phenomenon. The site increasingly appears to play the role of trusted intermediary for the ‘independent traveller’ who spurns the services of the traditional travel agent in favour of making their own holiday arrangements. In this paper, we undertake netnographic research to consider the way in which TripAdvisor rankings engender trust. Drawing on the site’s own operational features together with an analysis of the traveller commentaries hosted within the site, we argue that the case of TripAdvisor is a powerful illustration of an internet mediated abstract system ( Giddens, 1990 , Giddens, 1991 ) that draws on calculative practices to construct trust. In addition, we speculate as to the implications of the proliferation of such internet mediated expert systems, both on the accounting profession, and on future accounting research.

TL;DR: This paper examined the recruitment literature of the ‘big four’ accounting firms and six of the professional institutes in an attempt to unravel the techniques deployed by the profession to camouflage the spectre of the stereotype.

TL;DR: In this paper, an accounting innovation introduced by early twentieth century department store management is examined, unraveling the workings of garment alteration overhead allocations and the linkages between such accounting innovation and the creation of the statistical standard body size.

TL;DR: In this paper, an examination of the nature of consumer credit and accounting's role in its techniques of operation is presented, informed by Foucauldian concepts of disciplinary power and governmentality, revealing that a new mode of record keeping played a decisive role in the creation of an alternative to local knowledge in the granting of credit.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue a case for the study of accounting within the domain of popular culture, and propose two theoretical lenses from which to examine how accounting is entwined with the popular.