| I study the public policy relevance of accounting. I am interested in how accounting may influence public policy to reproduce a social structure called the state-capital partnership. The state-capital partnership is theorized to be a structural hegemony that influences the probability of success of all public policy projects, and supports both social stability and economic growth.;I examine the privatization of accounting standard setting with the passage of the Canada Business Corporations Act. Accounting standard setting authority shifted to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, which demonstrated public policy preferences consistent with the state-capital partnership. Secondly, I study how accounting may influence public policy generally via examining whether think tanks use accounting data, have accountants as researchers, reference the accounting profession, and reference accounting research. I find accounting is generally not used, although when it is used, it is used more by conservative think tanks than liberal think tanks. Finally, I analyze the accounting literature on privatization. Accounting is used to promote privatization, and measures profits and costs post-privatization.;My study contributes to the accounting literature by theorizing how accounting as a structural hegemonic technology may influence public policy. I also provide suggestions for future research. |
