Date
2014-03
Dewey
Contrôle de gestion Comptabilité
Sujet
Employés de bureau; Milieu de travail; Taylorisme; Pont-à-Mousson SA; Accounting clerks; Foucault; Micro-history; Social space; Taylorism; Workspace
JEL code
A14; L23; L64; M12; M41; M54; N34; N64
Journal issue
Accounting History Review
Volume
24
Number
1
Publication date
03-2014
Article pages
27-45
Publisher
Routledge
Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Abstract (EN)
Research into accountancy has concentrated largely on professional accountants and has tended to ignore accounting clerks. Based on a micro-historical approach and the case of a French company as a starting point, this study explores the evolution of workspace and demonstrates how the space allocated to accountants changed during the inter-war period. We adopt Bourdieu's notion of social space to bring together spatial practices and overhead cost calculations, and Foucault's analysis of space to define office space mobility. This work sheds light on the influence of Taylorism on the accounting world, how it affected accounting clerks and, finally, the social downgrading that resulted from the reconfiguration of workspaces. This research contributes to the history of the workspace and to the history of the separation between accounting clerks and chartered accountants.