The development of accounting calculations as chronological network effects : Growth rings of accounting calculations

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the processes through which accounting calculations are formed and developed in a Japanese manufacturing company. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on an in-depth longitudinal case study. Actor network theory is used to analyze the empirics and to trace the historical translation process where the calculations were formed and developed as inscriptions. Findings – The empirics show that an accounting calculation (called PPH) was formed and developed as a flag to rally around to involve different interests at different times. It translated changing external social and economic contexts as well as internal managerial and shop-floor interests into its calculations at different stages of the company's development. The processes were inscribed in the form of an accounting calculation and these inscriptions were accumulated, rather than replaced or abandoned, to create growth rings of accounting calculations as chronological network effects. Originality/value – The case in this paper demonstrates that keiei-rinen (management philosophy) control can be more bottom-up than implied in the extant literature. Shop-floor workers and non-accounting experts participate in (re)shaping processes of accounting calculations. In these processes, “stability” is the key for the calculations to remain at the centre of translation attracting various interests and linking different demands over time.