Power relations and the accounting system in the Archbishop’s Seminary of Siena (1666-1690)

Michela Magliacani · Roberto Di Pietra

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Accounting and Organizational Management Accounting Theory and Financial Reporting Foucault, Power, and Ethics

Abstract

Purpose Accounting can affect and determine power relations. Previous studies have emphasized how accounting has been used by “central” powers; less is known from the perspective of “local” power and its capacity to resist and protect its interests. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the Archbishop’s Seminary of Siena (ASS) (local) and Roman ecclesiastic institutions (central). This study contributes to filling the existing gap in the literature regarding how accounting could be used as a tool for deception in local/central power relations. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology is based on a case study and archival research. The ASS case study was analyzed through its archive, made up for the most part of accounting books. As to the approach adopted, the authors used the Foucault framework to observe power relations in order to identify possible ways in which accounting can be employed as a factor of deception. Findings Power relations between the ASS and Roman ecclesiastic institutions were maintained through a system of reporting that limited the influence of the ecclesiastical power of Rome over the Seminary’s administration and control. The relationship thus runs contrary to the findings in previous studies. The accounting system was managed as a factor of deception in favor of local interests and the limitation of central ecclesiastic power. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to enhancing the existing literature on governmentality, proposing a different perspective in which power relations are based on the use of accounting. The Foucaldian approach demonstrates its validity, even though the power relations under consideration have the unusual feature of occurring within the context of religious institutions. Originality/value This study on the ASS has allowed the identification of two relevant points: the local/central dichotomy is consistent with the logic of power relations as theorized by Foucault, even in cases where it highlights the role of a local power in limiting the flow of information to a central one; and the ASS accounting system was used as a factor of deception.

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References

1982The Subject and Power 2007Security, territory, population: lectures at the College de France, 1977-78 1992Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Government 1990Governing economic life 1987Accounting and the construction of the governable person 1983On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates 1996Critical and interpretive histories: insights into accounting’s present and future through its past 1991Environmental Disturbances and Organizational Transitions and Transformations: Some Alternative Models

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