Oral-aural accounting and the management of the Jesuit corpus

The roles of written and visual accounting techniques in establishing conditions of possibility in modern management decision making are well documented. In contrast, this paper looks beyond the “grammatocentric”, and analyzes a practice of oral accounting – the Account of Conscience – that began in the Society of Jesus in the sixteenth century, and has persisted largely unchanged to the present day. In this practice, we see historically relevant pastoral practices evolving into techniques of government that begin to resemble modern governmentality. The paper compels a more general consideration of oral–aural practices and their role in constructing relationships of authority and accountability

Diversity and the accounting profession

In accounting, like other professions in the UK, traditional beliefs about the ideal professional, such as the ability to work long hours and prioritise commercial relationship building, have long privileged the career progression of white males. Efforts to tackle exclusionary practices and improve representativeness, particularly among the senior elite within professions, are continuing. The rationales to do so are compelling. First, this is a legal imperative. The Equality Act 2010 and a raft of subsequent legislation prohibit workplace discrimination and unfair practices. Second, widening access to professions, and in turn enhancing social mobility, is seen as the ethical thing to do (Milburn Report 2009). Third, the business case for diversity suggests that creating a fair place to work has commercial benefits, too. While the accounting profession is responding to the diversity agenda, the overall picture we have seen regarding responses and outcomes is uneven, especially around change management at more senior levels. Our research aims to provide a view on how accounting firms are addressing diversity. It acts as a reference point for practitioners responding to this agenda, as well as a basis for further academic research. We interviewed 50 individuals from accounting firms of all sizes across the UK, all of whom were at different stages of their career or who had left practice, as well as professional bodies and NGOs. We also carried out a survey. We examined common responses to legal responsibilities and asked about how diversity is being understood and how diversity policies are enacted in the workplace. We also identified issues and pressure points/systemic barriers that limit the potential of diversity initiatives, and carried out a survey across UK accounting professional bodies

Diversity and the evaluation of talent in the accounting profession : the enigma of merit

SYNOPSIS While accounting firms are facing recruitment and retention problems, regulatory bodies are calling for efforts to improve diversity to be more effective, especially at senior levels. In this paper, we discuss “merit” and assumptions about “meritocracy” in processes of performance evaluation and career progression. Based on interviews in medium and large professional services firms in the United Kingdom, we explore how the language/practices of merit can inhibit moves to improving diversity. Merit has two aspects: “technical” notions of core competencies associated with merit and cultural notions of social fit, which have the effect of favoring the progression of the elite groups embedded within firms. The latter creates a loop in understanding merit, enacted within firm culture over time, that is difficult to disrupt. As such, efforts to improve diversity are unlikely to bring about change without considering how organizational beliefs about merit have unintended consequences

The relative contributions of speechreading and vocabulary to deaf and hearing children's reading ability

Background Vocabulary knowledge and speechreading are important for deaf children's reading development but it is unknown whether they are independent predictors of reading ability. Aims This study investigated the relationships between reading, speechreading and vocabulary in a large cohort of deaf and hearing children aged 5 to 14 years. Methods and procedures 86 severely and profoundly deaf children and 91 hearing children participated in this study. All children completed assessments of reading comprehension, word reading accuracy, speechreading and vocabulary. Outcomes and results Regression analyses showed that vocabulary and speechreading accounted for unique variance in both reading accuracy and comprehension for deaf children. For hearing children, vocabulary was an independent predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension skills but speechreading only accounted for unique variance in reading accuracy. Conclusions and implications Speechreading and vocabulary are important for reading development in deaf children. The results are interpreted within the Simple View of Reading framework and the theoretical implications for deaf children's reading are discussed

Using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software : respecting voices within data management and analysis

The chapter reviews the use of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). CAQDAS is a useful part of research life. The chapter aims to bring the use of CAQDAS to life a little more for non-users. It raises and discusses some points about data management and analysis that can be addressed through the use of CAQDAS. The chapter outlines the details of CAQDAS use within one particular research project, and offers some convincing thoughts on the broader issues involved in becoming someone who uses coding and IT as a part of his/her research process based on a personal experience. The chapter discusses managing CAQDAS and the ethics of research project management, timing, networks of expertise, and discussion. The chapter concludes that one needs good research practice to make CAQDAS a supreme tool for any research