Exploring accounting presence and absence: case studies from Bangladesh

This paper explores accounting presences and absences in the daily life of three Bangladeshi small traders. By exploring the margins of accounting it is possible to better understand why we do and do not do accounting. Two different ideas are explored. Based on the work of Boden it is suggested that the presence or absence of accounting can be explained by the influence of key social and state institutions. Some support was found for this idea, as there was no “external” demand for accounting. The second factor that was explored was the idea that the presence or absence of accounting could be explained by literacy. Again, there was some support for this as two of the cases studied started to keep debtors records once they learnt to read and write. However, we suggest that levels of social capital, defined as norms of reciprocity and trust, could also play an important role in understanding accounting absence in this case, an idea which might be applicable to a wider context.