ACCOUNTING, MODERNISATION AND TIME: CYCLICAL INFLUENCES ON FINANCIAL REPORTING REGULATION AND PRACTICE IN ROMANIA

Nicolae-Ionut Bertalan

Research output: ThesisDoctoral Thesis

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Abstract

The general purpose of this research is to identify, explain and theorise into how the transition to Western financial reporting happened after 1989 in former communist countries based on the case study of Romania. Romania is particularly interesting in this sense because there is not much research done in this area with an international visibility and it is one of the last countries to overthrow the communist regime and embark on the path of democracy.
To develop this inquiry, the research draws on several theoretical streams and creates a new theoretical framework suited for the complexity posed by this endeavour. The particular streams used are nine of Latour’s modes of existence (2013) chosen based on the continuity assumption and the notions of recurrence and pattern identification. Drawing on the aforementioned recurrence (implicitly also on repetition compulsion) and pattern identification in history, I show that the periodisation of the accounting changes that affected Romanian accounting from 1837 to the present day have a circularity to them. Pattern identification has not been used as an analytical device in any prior national or international accounting history research. The notion of repetitive cycles in standard-setting has been used in the broader accounting literature by Mumford (1979) and Nobes (1991 with a reply to criticisms of it in 1992 and 1992 Abacus article).
By developing this unique perspective with the use of the Romania case, this research is able to offer a fresh perspective on how history repeats itself in a way that is most of the time unquestioned and the crucial role of the transnational actors and not least of the need for funding, which together creates or influences the patterns for the development of new accounting systems and regulations. This particular approach being a theory building one, complements and expands the already existing prior literature in this area and it is a valuable insight due to its potential for generalisation to the other former communist countries in Eastern Europe and worldwide.
Original languageEnglish
QualificationPh.D.
Awarding Institution
  • Royal Holloway, University of London
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Napier, Christopher, Supervisor
Award date1 Apr 2019
Publication statusUnpublished - 2019

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