An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Thomas D. Tolleson
Texas Wesleyan University

Barbara D. Merino
University of North Texas

Alan G. Mayper
Univeristy of North Texas

Abstract: Neoliberalism provides the theoretical framework for an analysis of the creative accounting abuses and the subsequent political response in the United States. In a neoliberal society, corporate hegemony reigns supreme. This study links neoliberal ideology with an environment that promoted unethical behavior among three financial reporting elites: corporate executives, accountants and financial analysts. This paper examines the concept of corporate hegemony, as defined by Gramsci (1971), Dugger (1989) and others. We discuss three types of power–coercion, agenda setting and “manufactured” consent. We focus on agenda setting power and how selected deregulatory policies impacted financial reporting and the behavior of those involved in the reporting process. Our hope is that modernist researchers might be swayed by “facts” of the inequities perpetrated in the 1990s. Our inclination is that “facts” do not make a significant difference in a hegemonic society.

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