Volume 20, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 855-869
AUTHORS:
Robin Roslender
Joanna Stevenson
Robin Fincham
ABSTRACT:
In principle, the Accounting for People initiative announced by the UK government in January 2003 held out the possibility of a real step forward in promoting the interests of employees. Despite its distinctly managerialist discourse, the initiative acknowledged that having long since recognised that ‘people are our greatest asset’, employers should begin to consider how to report on their people management activities in financial statements. A little over two years later, however, UK quoted companies are only required to include “information about the company’s employees” in their now mandatory operating and financial reviews. Whatever promise may have been evident to wishful thinkers in the early months of the initiative, the outcome confirms that there is little possibility for progressively ‘accounting for people’ as long as the existing accounting calculus prevails.
The purpose of this paper is to subject the initiative to critical scrutiny. The paper seeks to document how this initiative was quickly and effectively emasculated as a consequence of the power and influence wielded by the UK accountancy profession, represented as a key agent of capital. Additionally, attention is drawn to a number of contemporary developments, largely ignored in the course of the debate, that may yet inform and energise a truly emancipatory approach to accounting for people.
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