Prácticas contables en cooperativas rurales

A rural co-op in the north of Sweden has grown from a tiny development-group to a small business venture with houses, a shop and an old-age home. This progress is here described focusing the accounting practice. Field-studies, including participatory methods and interviews, depicts a co-op torn between their founding ideas on shaping a good life in the area, and an increasing focus on business. This tension is also reflected in their usage of accounting. The conclusion of the study is that identity and accounting are shown to be mutually interlinked. It is further argued, drawing on ethnomethodological concepts, that the main asset in the development, community based on trust, can not be mirrored in the formal accounts. The alternative is approaches more akin to narratives, something that has implications also for the perception of ideas encircling Social Accounting.