Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Home accountants: exploring their practices

Home accountants: exploring their practices Little is known of how accounting is used in the home, or about the potential relevance of business-like techniques in this domain. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study into the practices of home accountants. Ten cases based on interviews with both accountants and lay people were used to investigate four broad areas of accounting practice: budgeting, record-keeping, decision making and long-term financial planning. The findings suggest that simple accounting practices are used in the home to serve multiple purposes. Domestic cash budgets, financial records and decision-making rules of thumb offer a valued sense of financial control and security. Home accounts are also drawn on in rationalising financial choices, and accounting practices reinforce a personal sense of identity. This study revealed little difference between the practices of accountants and those of lay people, suggesting that the "mind-set" and practices of home accountants may be attributed to factors other than command over technique. Any "theories" of home accounting and prescriptions for practice may have limited relevance, therefore, if they fail to account for the particular characteristics of the home as an accounting domain. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal Emerald Publishing

Home accountants: exploring their practices

Download PDF
27 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/home-accountants-exploring-their-practices-QZCRy7vpCN

References (45)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 MCB UP Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0951-3574
DOI
10.1108/09513570010338267
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Little is known of how accounting is used in the home, or about the potential relevance of business-like techniques in this domain. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study into the practices of home accountants. Ten cases based on interviews with both accountants and lay people were used to investigate four broad areas of accounting practice: budgeting, record-keeping, decision making and long-term financial planning. The findings suggest that simple accounting practices are used in the home to serve multiple purposes. Domestic cash budgets, financial records and decision-making rules of thumb offer a valued sense of financial control and security. Home accounts are also drawn on in rationalising financial choices, and accounting practices reinforce a personal sense of identity. This study revealed little difference between the practices of accountants and those of lay people, suggesting that the "mind-set" and practices of home accountants may be attributed to factors other than command over technique. Any "theories" of home accounting and prescriptions for practice may have limited relevance, therefore, if they fail to account for the particular characteristics of the home as an accounting domain.

Journal

Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal – Emerald Publishing

Published: Oct 1, 2000

Keywords: Accounting; Budgeting; Record keeping; Decision making; Financial planning

There are no references for this article.