The Impact of Government Political Discourses on Public Sector Accounting Reforms

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D. Department of Accounting, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Purpose: Public sector accounting is considered as a tool for politicians to achieve political incentives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of government political discourses on public sector accounting reforms by examining the role of government representatives in parliament in legitimizing public sector accounting reforms and the type of legitimacy strategies used by them.
Methodology: The method of this research is based on critical discourse analysis with Fairclough approach. The population of this research includes 19 texts from the discourses of government representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in relation to changes in the law of public accounting related to public sector accounting from 1986 to 2021. All the above texts have been analyzed.
Results: Changes in the country's public accounting law as the basis for public sector accounting have been legitimized under the influence of the power of language by government officials and with an emphasis on rationalist and ethical strategies, and they have used language as a tool of legitimacy.
Conclusion: The use of language by government representatives in parliament as a tool to legitimize and use rationalist and ethical strategies to legitimize changes in the country's public accounting law, indicates that they are trying to emphasize the consequences of these changes, as well as its value and moral principles, to portray such changes in line with the public interest and to make it in line with the norms of society.  
Contribution: Paying attention to the impact of political discourses on public sector accounting reforms is one of the things that has been paid less attention in accounting studies and can be effective in the decision-making and judgment of users of public sector accounting reports.
 

Keywords

References

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Journal of Accounting and Social Interests
Volume 12, Issue 3 - Serial Number 46
September 2022
Pages 23-44

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 March 2022
  • Revise Date: 19 July 2022
  • Accept Date: 30 July 2022

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