ACC303 Contemporary Issues In Accounting

So, how do you do the article critique?

You need to read the article – you are critiquing Morgan, G. (1988), Accounting as reality construction: Towards a new epistemology for accounting practice, Accounting, Organizations and Society,13(5), 477 - 485.

Part One: Briefly overview the article

What is the main argument in the article? What is the author/s trying to tell you about accounting? This is likely to be the lead sentence in your assignment.

a.Eg. in relation to Brown & Fraser (2006) in “Approaches and Perspectives in Social and Environmental Accounting”, I would argue: 
Brown & Fraser (2006) argue that the central issue in corporate social responsibility [CSR] is about power and whether business is in control of society or society is in control of business.

You will need to work hard on each sentence here. So, you need to display good editing skills: write, rewrite, read, edit, rewrite (it is an iterative process).

Part Two:

Critically reflect on what is positive or negative about the article from an academic perspective.

To critically reflect on something means to develop a way, with support, of telling us whether you agree with the article that you selected. 

You may use ‘I’ in this section because you are expressing your personal viewpoints about the article, but you should provide as much support from other sources (preferably published: journal articles, books (see the unit outline) – not just from the Internet and not from Wikipedia or other online sources) in the development of your opinion.

The Analytical Technique

Identify TWO statements or ideas from Morgan (1988) that you find interesting or significant. These could for example, be statements that you strongly agree or disagree with.

ii)Evaluate why you find this example interesting. You should use support (from other published sources) in why it is interesting.

iii)Present Example 2 (this is not part of the word count) and evaluate this example.

Part Three:

Identify whether, how and why this article would or would not be useful for answering a question about the culture of accounting

This is asking you to focus on how Morgan (1988) would or would not help you to answer a question about accounting and culture. The ‘how’ needs reflection. This part requires you to do two things:

a)What you have learnt from evaluating Morgan (1988) in relation to culture and accounting?

b)Would Morgan (1988) help you to develop an argument about accounting and culture?

a.If yes, how would Morgan (1988) help you to do that? 

b.If no, why has Morgan (1988) not helped you to make an argument about accounting and culture?

Assignment Answer:

Part One: Brief Overview

From the analysis of the article named “Accounting as Reality Construction: Towards a New Epistemology for Accounting Practice” by Gareth Morgan, it can be observed that the main argument in this article is related to the fact that the accountants use to construct the accounting reality in limited as well as one-sided way (Morgan, 1988). This article indicates towards the fact that the concept of objectivity in the accounting process is a myth; at the same time, it is creating major hindrances on the development in the accounting process. For this reason, this article is involves in the development of new viewpoints on different dimensions of the accounting process so that accounting processes can be connected with the reality for bringing development in this profession.

Part Two: Critical Reflection

From the analysis of this article, I have been able in finding two major points of the article that show the positive side of this research towards the topic. I have mentioned in the above part that the main problem lies in the fact that the accountants consider limited reality at the time to conduct the accounting works. I am presenting these two positive arguments in the following manner:

Example 1: The solution of the problem can be found in the recognition of basic subjectivity of accounting (Morgan, 1988).

I have found this statement of the author interesting as it shows the way of this problem that is to develop certain code of practice that will provide assistance to the accountants in the recognition of the fact that they are not objective commentator of the companies; but they are the persons with the responsibility of engaging in the complex process for the constriction of reality (Piening, 2013). Under the basis accounting responsibilities, the accountants start to ignore the accounting reality (Zadek, Evans & Pruzan, 2013).

Example 2: Accounting systems help in shaping the reality (Morgan, 1988).

I have found this statement interesting as it shows that the introduction of effective financial control can lead in reshaping the culture as well as general orientation of the companies. It indicates towards the fact that the presence of effective financial control helps in making the accounting process more efficient; at the same time, this aspects make the accountants less humane (Moore, 2014). This whole aspect indicates towards the fact that effective accounting system helps in shaping the important aspects in the process of accounting.

Part Three: Identification of Usefulness

From the analysis of the article by Gareth Morgan, I have found the fact that it is needed for the accountants to become skilled enough for reading the situation that they are attempting to analyze; for this, it is needed for them to consider understanding different paradoxical dimensions of the business organizations (Morgan, 1988). I have also found the fact that the accountants are needed to be sensitive for reading the core of the accounting problem for which they are accounted for. In addition, they are needed to develop effective insight to obtain broad understanding of their accounting actions.