Opening up the politics of standard setting through discourse theory: the case of IFRS for SMEs
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 30 September 2019
Issue publication date: 17 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate an element of the internal politics of standard setting by reference to the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) movement to the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-Sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs). The authors examine the politics of the IASB’s expertise in technocratic governance by focussing on how the IASB defined SMEs, gave the standard a title and issued a guide for micro-entities.
Design/methodology/approach
The narrative case study focusses on central “moments” in the development of IFRS for SMEs. The authors employ Laclau and Mouffe’s condensation, displacement and overdetermination to illustrate embedded politics in articulating IFRS for SMEs.
Findings
The authors extend literature on the internal politics of standard setting, such as agenda setting, by examining the condensing of disagreements between experts and political pressures and processes into central decision moments in IFRS for SMEs. The authors illustrate these moments as overdetermined, manifesting in an act of displacement through the production of a micro-entity guide. This form of politics is hidden due to the IASB’s attempt to protect their technocratic neutrality through fixing meaning.
Originality/value
The authors make three contributions: first, overdetermination through condensation and displacement illustrates the embedded nature of politics in regulatory settings, such as the IASB. Second, the authors provide a theoretical explanation of the IASB’s movement from listed entities to IFRS for SMEs, drawing on Laclau and Mouffe. Third, the authors reinforce the necessity of interrogating the internal politics of standard setting to challenge claims of technocracy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the BAFA South-East Area Group conference (December 2016), the first Alternative Accounts Conference Europe (September 2017), University of Essex Brown Bag session (February 2018) and a Paper Development Workshop (November 2018) and the authors would like to thank those who commented on the paper. The authors are also grateful for the detailed comments from our colleagues on previous versions of the paper, Professor Shahzad Uddin, Professor Teeven Soobaroyen, Dr Jeremy Morales, Dr Per Ahblom and Associate Professor Marie-Léandre Gomez.
Citation
Warren, R., Carter, D.B. and Napier, C.J. (2020), "Opening up the politics of standard setting through discourse theory: the case of IFRS for SMEs", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 124-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2018-3464
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited