Accountability verstehen: A study of accounting in state religious councils in Malaysia

This paper reports in-depth case studies of financial management and accounting practices in two Islamic religious, public service organisations in Malaysia, using a grounded theory methodology. There are two main purposes of the paper. The first is to provide an example of how a grounded theory study is undertaken in practice and to encourage its use in similar and different settings. The second is to contribute to the understanding of financial management and accounting in religious, public service organisations in general and in Islamic organisations in particular. The methodology used was a combination of Strauss and Corbin (1990, 1998) and Glaser (1978). The grounded theory which emerged used Webers (1947,1949,1968) concept of verstehen to explain the differences in accounting practice. The study showed that the broader social, historical and religious contexts in whichorganisations are embedded, together with the power relationships within them, resulting in unique accounting verstehen and also therefore in unique accounting practices.