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

Gary Spraakman
York University

Abstract: The fundamental issues about the extent of the reality behind accounting signs have received minimal attention from accounting researchers (Mattessich, 1991a; Heath, 1987). Recently, Macintosh et al. (2000) addressed these issues with financial accounting and Baudrillard’s orders-of-simulacra theory to conclude that financial accounting no longer functions according to the logic of transparent representation, stewardship or information economics. Mattessich (2003) severely criticized Macintosh et al. (2000). This research extends the agreements of Macintosh et al. (2000) and Mattessich (2003) from financial accounting to management accounting with a longitudinal study of the management accounting signs at a single company, the Hudson’s Bay Company, from 1670 to 2005. It examines management accounting signs from the perspective of physical and social reality and three dimensions, aggregation, temporality, and uncertainty.

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