Abstract
Since the 1970s, accountants are suspected for having been contributing to the predominance of the market doctrine by setting themselves the objective of ensuring the efficient functioning of financial markets. In this chapter, we set out to analyze how the IASB project accords with this logic. Using the concept of “communion” borrowed to Gurvitch sociology of law (1948/2001), and some shareholder thinking lent to Stout (The shareholder value myth. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2012) and Blair and Stout (Va Law Rev 85(2):247–328, 1999), we argue that the concept of “investor” used in the IASB conceptual framework depicts its membership to a form of an active spontaneous sociality we call the market “communion”. Through its conceptual framework, the IASB contributes to preserving symbols and patterns, such as the Efficient Market Hypothesis [EMH] and the Shareholder Value Maximization [SVM] doctrine. Poised for intellectual collapse, such shared symbols and beliefs form the collective intuitions that enable mediation and communication between the members of the communion to continue adulating the market ideology. The concept of “investor” used in the IASB conceptual framework is socially constructed. It is both constituted by the IASB membership to the market communion, and yet at the same time is the very medium of this constitution.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmtreasy/144/08111101.htm (last accessed on November 08, 2011).
- 2.
“The imprecise world of accounting”, speech by Hans Hoogervorst, IASB chairman, at the 2012 International Association for Accounting Education & Research (IAAER) conference (Amsterdam, June 2012), can be downloaded from the IASB website on http://www.ifrs.org/Alerts/Conference/Documents/HHoogervorstJune2012theimpreciseworldofaccounting.pdf.
References
Aglietta M (2000) Shareholder value and corporate governance: some tricky questions. Econ Soc 29(1):146–159
Amernic J, Craig R (2004) Reform of accounting education in the post-enron era: moving accounting ‘Out of the Shadows’. ABACUS 40(3):342–378
Berle A Jr, Means GC (1982) The modern corporation and private property. WS Hein, New York, NY (Original edition published in 1932 by Macmillan)
Blair M, Stout L (1999) A team production theory of corporate law. Va Law Rev 85(2):247–328
Botzem S, Quack S (2009) (No) Limits to Anglo-American accounting? Reconstructing the history of the International Accounting Standards Committee: a review article. Acc Organ Soc 34(8):988–998
Chabrak N (2011) The shareholder era and the changing nature of the corporation. A Comment on “Managed by the Markets: How Finance Re-Shaped America” by G. Davis (OUP, 2009). Account Econ Law Convivium. 1(2), http://www.bepress.com/ael/vol1/iss2/4/
Chabrak N (2014) The shareholder value myth and the market communion. Law Finan Markets Rev 8(1):27–38. doi:10.5235/17521440.8.1.27
Chambers RJ (1980) The myths and the science of accounting. Account Organ Soc 5(1):167–180
Chiapello E (2005) Les normes comptables comme institution du capitalisme. Une analyse du passage aux normes IFRS en Europe à partir de 2005. Sociologie du travail 47:362–382
Davis FG (2009) Managed by the markets: how finance re-shaped America. Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Dodd EM (1932) For whom are corporate managers trustees? Harv Law Rev 45(7):1145–1163
Fama EF (1965) The behavior of stock-market prices. J Bus 38(1):34–105
Fama EF, Jensen MC (1983a) Agency problems and residual claims. J Law Econ 26(2):327–349
Fama EF, Jensen MC (1983b) Separation of ownership and control. J Law Econ 26(2):301–325
Friedman M (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. N Y Times Mag (September 13)
Greenspan A (2008) Testimony to House of Representatives Committee on Government oversight and reform. Oct 23. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/10/23/greenspan-testimony-on-sources-of-financial-crisis/
Gurvitch G (2001) Sociology of law. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, Original edition (1948)
Hoarau C, Teller R (2007) IFRS: les normes comptables du nouvel ordre économique global ? Comptabilité – Contrôle – Audit. December (thematic issue), 3–20
IASB (2013) Discussion Paper DP/2013/1: a review of the conceptual framework for financial reporting. http://www.ifrs.org/Current-Projects/IASB-Projects/Conceptual-Framework/Discussion-Paper-July-2013/Documents/Discussion-Paper-Conceptual-Framework-July-2013.pdf
Jensen MC (1986) Agency costs of free cash flow, corporate finance, and takeovers. Am Econ Rev 76(2):323–329
Jensen MC, Meckling W (1976) Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs, and ownership structure. J Finan Econ 3(4):305–360
Jensen MC, Murphy KJ (1990) Performance pay and top management incentives. J Polit Econ 98(2):225–264
Lazonick W (2011) The innovative enterprise and the developmental state: toward an economics of ‘organizational success’. Presented at the conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Bretton Woods, NH, April 10. http://www.newdeal20.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/lazonick-innovative-enterprise-and-developmental-state-20110403.pdf
Macintosh JCC (1999) The issues, effects and consequences of the Berle-Dodd debate, 1931–1932. Account Organ Soc 24(2):139–153
Moonitz M (1961) The basic postulates of accounting. AICPA, New York, NY
Mouck T (1998) Capital markets research and real world complexity: the emerging challenge of chaos theory. Account Organ Soc 23(2):189–215
Murphy T, O’Connell V, hogartaigh C (2013) Discourses surrounding the evolution of the IASB/FASB conceptual framework: what they reveal about the “living law” of accounting. Account Organ Soc 38(1):72–91
Ravenscroft S, Williams P (2011) Rethinking decision-usefulness. http://elsevier.conference-services.net/resources/247/2182/pdf/CPAC2011_0064_paper.pdf
Ravenscroft S, Williams P (2009) Making imaginary worlds real: the case of expensing employee stock options. Account Organ Soc 34(6–7):770–786
Shiller TR (1984) Stock prices and social dynamics. Brook Pap Econ Act 2:457–510
Soufian M, Forbes W, Hudson R (2013) Adapting financial reality: is a new paradigm emerging? Crit Perspect Account
Stout LA (2012) The shareholder value myth. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA
Tinker AM (1980) Towards a political economy of accounting: an empirical illustration of the Cambridge controversies. Account Organ Soc 5(1):147–160
Whittington G (2008) Harmonisation or discord? The critical role of the IASB conceptual framework review. J Account Public Policy 27(6):495–502
Williams PF (2002) Accounting and the moral order: justice, accounting and legitimate moral authority. J Account Public Interest 2(1):1–21
Williams PF (2004) You reap what you sow: the ethical discourse of professional accounting. Crit Perspect Account 15(6-7):995–1001
Williams PF, Jenkins JG, Ingraham L (2006) The winnowing away of behavioral accounting research in the US: the process for anointing academic elites. Account Organ Soc 31(8):783–818
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chabrak, N. (2016). The IASB and the Market “Communion”. In: Bensadon, D., Praquin, N. (eds) IFRS in a Global World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28225-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28225-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28223-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28225-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)