Accounting in Networks

Accounting in Networks is the first book that in a comprehensive way covers the emerging issue of accounting and control in horizontal relations across legally independent organizations. During the last 20 years, organisations have shown an increased interest in collaborations that cross company boundaries. New organisational forms, such as alliances, partnerships, joint ventures, outsourcing and networks have received increased attention. This development has pushed management accounting researchers into examining the lateral effects of accounting. This book examines these lateral effects on accounting, and creates a comprehensive summary of what has been achieved so far and what interesting developments will occur in the coming ten years.

The book covers a variety of inter-organizational settings – dyads, networks, joint ventures, public sector – and the roles of accounting therein. It also deals with specific inter-organizational accounting techniques – customer accounting, target costing and open book accounting – which companies use to manage in a world of inter-organizational relationships and networks. The book also covers different theoretical perspectives – transactional cost economics, the industrial-network approach, actor-network theory, institutional theory – on accounting in networks. Each chapter focus on a specific angle of accounting in networks, assess theoretical and empirical evidence, summarize the current position/debate and discuss promising avenues for future research.