Researching the exercise of power

Chapter 4 will consider two research articles (Annisette 2000, and, Cooper 2015) to illustrate two methods used in critical accounting research. Both articles though concerned with capitalism and its rationalities position theory differently in the research process and employ different research methods. Annisette’s inductive study is concerned with how capitalism's rationalities are diffused through global accounting bodies, and we focus on how interviews are used to develop the article's main arguments. Cooper's deductive approach illustrates the continued relevance of Marx's theorising in explaining the significant failures of accounting in the recent banking crisis. We focus on how through desk-based research a wealth of secondary data was obtained to illustrate how the globally diffused rationalities and technologies of accounting alter and shape our worlds in both a material and an ideological way. Thus each paper is concerned with the global accounting complex.