The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification

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Michael Power (Professor of Accounting, Professor of Accounting, London School of Economics)

The Audit Society

Rituals of Verification

Michael Power (Professor of Accounting, Professor of Accounting, London School of Economics)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 August 1999

Sociology: work & labour; Economics & Business; Management accounting & bookkeeping; Management & management techniques

Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? The Audit Society argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. Michael Power argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization.

By: Michael Power (Professor of Accounting Professor of Accounting London School of Economics)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 322g
ISBN: 9780198296034
ISBN 10: 0198296037
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 01 August 1999
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Michael Power is Professor of Accounting at the LSE, and has been a Lecturer in Accounting and Finance there since 1987. He has also worked as a financial auditor with Deloitte Haskins and Sells where he qualified as a chartered accountant and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He has also been a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolley zu Berlin. In 1989 he was made an associate member of the United Kingdom of Institute of Taxation and, from 1990, an associate scholar of the European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management, Brussels.

Reviews for The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification

Review from previous edition The book appears just when we need it ... a valuable book. Financial Times This splendid book tracks what has been happening to the auditing profession in the context of the recent 'managerial turn' ... This is a breath of fresh air. LSE Magazine This book is valuable precisely because of the obscurity of its subject. Very little has been written about the purpose, context, or process of auditing. This book, therefore, fills a gap. I would recommend this book for managers and physicians interested in understanding and appraising more critically the role of audit in their ogranisations. Lois Quam, BMJ Volume 316, 1998 This is a book for the times. It will resonate instantly with hard-pressed UK public-sector professionals. It is wide-ranging and perceptive, showing the fruitfulness of Power's original training in critical philosophy combined with his later specialization in financial accounting. The book provides the most coherent challenge to the audit explosion that has been offered to date. Christopher Hood. Journal of Public Policy. 18/1/1998. ..subtle, stimulating and important book. Rudolf Klein. University of Bath. 1998.