Language, translation and accounting: towards a critical research agenda
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 8 August 2018
Issue publication date: 18 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to increase the awareness of the implications of language translation for accounting standard setting, education and research, and to work towards a critical research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a selective review of recent intercultural accounting research and literature on translation in accounting, of developments in accounting standard setting and on selected insights from translation studies.
Findings
Translation is not a simple technical, but a socio-cultural, subjective and ideological process. In contrast to the translation turn in other disciplines, however, most qualitative and critical accounting research neglects translation as a methodological and epistemological consideration and as a research opportunity.
Research limitations/implications
The paper proposes themes for a research agenda on translation in accounting.
Originality/value
The paper identifies opportunities for further and deeper investigations of translation in accounting regulation, education and research. Particular emphasis is given to the implication of translation in accounting research that is grounded in interpretivist and constructivist paradigms, where translation is inextricably linked with data analysis and interpretation and may inadvertently reproduce cultural hegemonies.
Keywords
Citation
Evans, L. (2018), "Language, translation and accounting: towards a critical research agenda", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 1844-1873. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-08-2017-3055
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited