.../methodology/approach The study adopts Foucault's understanding of pastoral power, confession and truth-telling to analyse the accounting practices of the Tribunal of the Inquisition in the 16th century Dukedom of Ferrara. Findings Detailed accounting books were not simply a means for pursuing...

..., 2007 , p. 165). Pastoral modes of organising are characterised by a paternal concern with moral betterment (Foucault, 1994) and tend to rely on specific agents such as the priest, the police and the helping professions. While pastoral power has a simultaneous emphasis on the flock and the individual...