The Expertise of Finance and Accountancy: an Interdisciplinary Study
| Published date | 01 March 1997 |
| Author | Anthony Birts,Mike Saren,Laurie McAulay,David Sims,Martyn Pitt |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.00041 |
| Date | 01 March 1997 |
Introduction
The challenge of interdisciplinary research in our
experience proved to be the challenge of con-
vergence. We came together as researchers from
financial management, management accountancy,
marketing, organizational behaviour and strategy,
with no right to believe that there might be any
common ground upon which discussion, debate
or agreement could be built between us. The story
told here is also one of researchers seeking an
explanation of finance and accountancy amongst
the discourse of financial experts who, in turn,
came from diverse backgrounds. This is therefore
a story of the winning of convergence in the face
of our own diversity and the diversity of the sub-
jects of our enquiry.
What is finance and accountancy? One answer,
which is so often encountered, is that finance and
accountancy is concerned with techniques (e.g.
Snell and James, 1994; Grey and Mitev, 1995; and
debated, e.g. Jones and Dugdale, 1994). However,
other answers are available. Nelson (1993), for in-
stance, makes the case for accountancy as practice
and accountancy as politics and narrative. One of
the motivations for our research together, there-
fore, was the possibility that alternative accounts,
such as those provided by Nelson, might result
from an interdisciplinary approach.
Background
Two separate protocol analysis studies provided
the basic material for our work together. Protocol
British Journal of Management, Vol. 8, 75–83 (1997)
The Expertise of Finance
and Accountancy:
an Interdisciplinary Study1
Anthony Birts, Laurie McAulay*, Martyn Pitt, Mike Saren†
and David Sims‡
School of Management, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK, *Loughborough University, Business School,
Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK, †Department of Marketing, School of Management,
University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK and ‡Department of Management Studies,
Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK
We present the story of a research exercise which encompassed the disciplines of
finance, accountancy, marketing, organizational behaviour and strategy. The research
developed through phases of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary enquiry and
our intention is to contribute to an understanding of these by telling the story of our
difficulties and achievements. The subject of our enquiry, the expertise of finance and
accountancy, came to be explained in a number of different ways, including finance and
accountancy as multi-disciplinary analysis and finance and accountancy as research.
We therefore wish to encourage broader views of finance and accountancy then those
sometimes proposed and discussed. The research exercise took protocol analysis as its
starting point and we wish to encourage interpretative approaches to the transcripts
which result from protocol analysis exercises. In reflecting back on our experiences, we
suggest that the biggest challenge of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary enquiry is
the challenge of convergence in the face of diversity.
© 1997 British Academy of Management
†Address for correspondence
1The authors acknowledge the contribution of two
anonymous reviewers to the development of this paper.
To continue reading
Request your trial