The transparency of accounting information as an instrument for the formation of public spheres
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-6486.rco.2022.195445Keywords:
Public spheres, Transparency, Accounting information, Social managementAbstract
The objective of this theoretical essay is to verify how the transparency of accounting information can contribute to the formation of public spheres that can influence political decisions. Transparency is related to accounting language, making it clear, understandable and intelligible, so that it can be used daily by society. Accounting language is able to socialize and integrate people into organizations and society by articulating the intersection between transparency, publicity and accountability. The concept of public spheres is based on Habermas, and is understood to be a social phenomenon that, through dialogue, communicative action and understanding, highlights and dramatizes society's problems, and is able to influence political decisions. The transparency of accounting information can promote the engagement of individuals with the common good, integrating them with spaces of dialogue, thus stimulating the formation of public spheres which are capable of putting pressure on the state in political decisions. The transparency of accounting information makes it possible to generate a virtuous cycle in the relationship between society and the state, mediated by public spheres.
Downloads
References
Avritzer, L., & Costa, S. (2004). Teoria crítica, democracia e esfera pública: concepções e usos na América Latina. Revista de Ciências Sociais, 47(4), 703-728. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0011-52582004000400003
Bertot, J., Jaeger, P., & Grimes, J. (2010). Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: e-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Government Information Quarterly, 27, 264-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.001
Brundidge, J. (2010). Encountering ‘‘difference’’ in the contemporary public sphere: the contribution of the internet to the heterogeneity of political discussion networks. Journal of Communication, 60 (1), 680-700. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01509.x
Brown, J. (2009). Democracy, sustainability and dialogic accounting technologies: taking pluralism seriously. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 20, 313-342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2008.08.002
Cançado, A., Tenório, F., & Pereira, J. (2019). Gestión social: epistemología de un paradigma. Ecuador: Universidad del Azuay.
Edwards, L. (2020). Transparency, publicity, democracy, and markets: inhabiting tensions through hybridity. American Behavioral Scientist, 64 (11), 1545-1564. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764220945350
Garcia, A., Pereira, J., Alcântara, V., & Cruz, E. (2018). Aprofundamento das esferas públicas para a gestão social: caminhos para uma reconstrução empírico-descritiva e normativa. Cadernos EBAPE, 16 (2), 163-185. https://doi.org/10.1590/1679-395160265
Gallhofer, S., Haslam, J. (2016). Some reflections on the construct of emancipatory accounting: shifting meaning and the possibilities of a new pragmatism. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2017.01.004
Habermas, J. (2003a). Mudança estrutural da esfera pública: investigações quanto a uma categoria da sociedade burguesa. Tradução: Flávio R. Kothe. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro.
Habermas, J. (2003b). Direito e democracia: entre facticidade e validade. Rio de Janeiro: Tempo Brasileiro.
Heald, D. (2012). Why is transparency about public expenditure so elusive? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 78(1), 30-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852311429931
Hood, C. (2007). What happens when transparency meets blame-avoidance? Public Management Review, 9(2), 191-210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14719030701340275
Irvine, H., & Moerman, L. (2017). Gambling with the public sphere: accounting’s contribution to debate on social issues. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 48, 35-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2017.05.002
Langella, C., Pessina, E., Redmayne, N., & Sicilia, M. (2021). Financial reporting transparency, citizens' understanding, and public participation: A survey experiment study. Public Administration, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12804
Lourenço, R. (2016). Evidence of an open government data portal impact on the public sphere. International Journal of Electronic Government Research, 12 (3), 21-36. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEGR.2016070102
Meneghetti, F. (2011). O que é um ensaio-teórico? Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 15 (2), 320-332. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415-65552011000200010
Moore, S. (2017). Towards a sociology of institutional transparency: openness, deception and the problem of public trust. Sociology, 1, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038516686530
Perlatto, F. (2015). Seletividade da esfera pública e esferas públicas subalternas: disputas e possibilidades na modernização brasileira. Revista de Sociologia e Política, 23 (53), 121-145. https://doi.org/121-145. 10.1590/1678-987315235307
Piotrowski, S., & Rysin, G. (2007). Citizen attitudes toward transparency in local government. The American Review of Public Administration, 37 (3), 306-323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074006296777
Stewart, E., & Hartmann, D. (2020). The new structural transformation of the public sphere. Sociological Theory, 38 (2), 170-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275120926205
Tilly, C. (1996). Coerção, capital e estados europeus. São Paulo: EDUSP.
Vianna, L. (1997). A revolução passiva: iberismo e americanismo no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Revan.
Villoria, M. (2021). ¿Qué condiciones favorecen una transparencia pública efectiva? A review article. Revista de Estudios Políticos, 194, 213-247. https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.194.08
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Érica Suélen do Nascimento, José Roberto Pereira
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The RCO adopts the Free Open Access policy, under the standard Creative Commons agreement (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The agreement provides that:
- Submission of text authorizes its publication and implies commitment that the same material is not being submitted to another journal. The original is considered definitive.
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which allows the sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are authorized to take additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g. publish in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with necessary recognition of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their personal page) before or during the editorial process, as this can generate productive changes as well as increase the impact and citation of published work (See The Effect of Free Access).
- The journal does not pay copyright to the authors of the published texts.
- The journal's copyright holder, except those already agreed in the Free Open Access Agreement (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), is the Accounting Department of the Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo.
No submission or publication fees are charged.
Up to 4 authors per article are accepted. Exceptionally duly justified cases may be reviewed by the Executive Committee of the RCO. Exceptional cases are considered as: multi-institutional projects; manuscripts resulting from the collaboration of research groups; or involving large teams for evidence collection, construction of primary data, and comparative experiments.
It is recommended that the authorship be ordered by contribution of each of the individuals listed as authors, especially in the design and planning of the research project, in obtaining or analyzing and interpreting data, and writing. Authors must declare the actual contributions of each author, filling the letter to the editor, at the beginning of the submission, taking responsibility for the information given.
Authors are allowed to change throughout the evaluation process and prior to the publication of the manuscript. The Authors should indicate the composition and final order of authorship in the document signed by all those involved when accepted for publication. If the composition and authoring order is different than previously reported in the system, all previously listed authors should be in agreement.
In the case of identification of authorship without merit or contribution (ghost, guest or gift authorship), the RCO follows the procedure recommended by COPE.
