The Symposium aims at emphasizing that artificial dichotomies such as race, gender or sexuality once accepted by society, have real impacts on the lives and livelihoods of many people (Hammond & Streeter, 1994; Hammond, Clayton & Arnold, 2009; Ghio, McGuigan & Powell, 2023). Corruption (and its measurement) was mentioned as another example of false dichotomies (Otusanya, 2011; Otusanya & Lauwo, 2019): According to Transparency International, most countries in the Global South are listed as more corrupt than countries in the Global North. This, however, disregards the involvement of multinational companies, often headquartered in the Global North, which play a role in the bribery of governments to secure contracts or reduce tax payments (Otusanya, 2014). Likewise, if elites in the Global South benefit from corruption, why is it that their money is perceived to be “safer” if invested in “less corrupt” countries? It can be argued that those elites, together with multinational companies, also bought the rationale of the false binary created by international corruption rankings and reproduce them, helping with their acts to perpetuate this artificial dichotomy. Furthermore, class and economic status find ways to create dichotomies that through social reproduction become real dichotomies that help preserve elites. The year’s symposium provides a platform to discuss artificial dichotomies using qualitative and unconventional research methods to highlight their material impacts. 

Dichotomies are constructed on various layers and contexts: For instance, the binary model of debits and credits defines “what counts, is accounted for, as being inside or outside the organization” (Power, 2018, p. 31, see also Hines, 1988 and Gendron & Rodrigue, 2021), an issue which has recently heated up in the debates around what sustainability reporting should encompass (Abhayawansa, 2022; Baumuller & Sopp, 2022; Giner & Luque-Vilchez, 2022).  Accounting reproduces the language of market rationality which tends to undermine the interests of the public (Baker, 2014). It tends to focus on the short-term decision-making, letting the need for long-term changes appear less urgent (Tregidga & Laine, 2022). Beyond the organization, accounting thought has infiltrated our every-day lives and normalized technocratic managerialist ways of organizing / ordering society (Cooper, 2015; Brown & Tregidga, 2017). Moreover, it shapes the “reality of the economic imaginary of the self; the atomistic conception of the individual as a self-interested and opportunistic ‘individual’” (Roberts, 2021) which is perceived as distinct from its natural environment and the relationships with it. Beyond expanding our understanding of various dichotomies, this Symposium hopes to encourage research that disrupts the concept itself. It demands open engagement with dichotomies and the processes which create them. It further requires critical reflexivity in order not to re-enforce the same binary opposition thinking. Our call aims to work towards an increasing presence of the Global South in accounting research and to foster open dialogues that will encourage emerging researchers to do local research with international quality (see for instance Hammond, Streeter & Musundwa, 2022). 

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Reviewers & Discussants

ESC discussants: Darlene Himick, Javier Husillos and Matthaus Tekathen 

QARS discussants: Gajindra Maharaj, Eve Lamargot, Matt Bamber, Alessandro Ghio, Peter Ghattas, Melissa Fortin, Sara Wick,  

Reviewers: Paulina Arroyo, Matt Bamber, Erica Pimentel, Kainan Xiong, Gajindra Maharaj, Cecilia Ficco, Martha Lucia Santana Cerda, Sergio Hauque, Luc Nappert, Emmanuel Tetteh Asare 

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Call for Special Issues

Accounting Perspectives: “Qualitative Accounting Research: Insights from Canada and Beyond” edited by Matt Bamber and Philippe Lassou (closed to new submissions)  

Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administration (ARLA): “Qualitative Research in Accounting: Navigating dichotomies through alternative knowledge” edited by Marcela Porporato. Fernanda Sauerbronn, Julius Otusanya and Daniela Senkl (Call for papers to be issued in 2023) 

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QARS Location

University Centre, Room 442, University of Guelph

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Venue Information

Delta Hotels by Marriott Guelph Conference Centre – 50 Stone Rd W, Guelph ON N1G 0A9