Methodological themes : Theories and case studies of organizational accounting practices: limitation or liberation?

Provides a response to the various calls which have been made by accounting researchers for detailed case studies of accounting practice. Provides a methodological study rather than a detailed case study. Aims to reposition the role of case studies in the continuing generation of alternative perspectives on accounting practice. Explores the dynamics of the interaction between theory and observation. Argues that there is a need for case‐based accounting researchers to become more directly involved in conversations concerning theories of the organizational and social functioning of accounting. Expresses the belief that accounting case studies can do more than “illustrate” particular social theories and that they have the potential to play a broader role in the development of accounting theory. Concludes that to secure such potential, accounting researchers should be, and in a post‐modern world can be, free to make use of existing theories, metaphors and prior case studies in a less constrained way than has hitherto been considered appropriate.