Philosophical Assumptions of Postmodern

Prof. Eko Ganis Sukoharsono, MCom-Hons, Ph.
D: An Imaginary Dialogue on Postmodern ,Page 1
An Imaginary Dialogue on Philosophical Assumptions of

Postmodern Accounting Research
Eko Ganis Sukoharsono

Professor of Accounting
Accounting Department. The University of Brawijaya
Abstract
The paper explicates a thought of postmodern accounting research

and its paradigm. Its aim is to explore interests on accounting
research philosophy, methodology and methods. Some research
agenda are drawn attention from accounting historiography to
power and knowledge on accounting. The idea of postmodern
comes from the philosophical assumptions of ontology,
epistemology, axiology, rhetoric and methodology. Discussions on
the difference between methodology and methods are also given. It
is believed that postmodern enriches accounting research agenda
ranging from individual experiences to autobiography.
Prologue: How how and how is Postmodernism?

Accounting Thinker : Hello everyone you are now engaged in postmodern accounting research
Accounting Thinker : Welcome Dont go anywhere
Accounting has gone far away. Metaphorically, accounting is alike of a Formula One car racing. Ferrari,
dominance of Ferrari in the previous years. Sebastian Vetel, a young German driver, has made a new
history of the youngest Formula One driver ever and the fastest tuner in the history. Early Monday
Morning, 19 November 2012 (Malang Time), a very unfortunate, Vetel in Texax, USA was in the 2 nd
place, after Hamilton of Mclaren. Vetel with Renault inspired to speed up the movement of accounting
today. Accounting is no longer dominated by a single paradigm. New paradigms enter in multi way
corners. Similarly, In the Formula one, it was dominanted by Ferrari, turning to Mclaren and now it
belongs to Renault. It is a big moment to accounting discipline, postmodern paradigm has taken place as a
mode of a new accounting movement.
The paper is written to fulfill a request of the International Consortium on Accounting Multiparadigm
Accounting Research. For me, it is NOT easy to prepare a paper in a hectic time. Finally I had to spend
after I was thinking to continue my previous writing on Postmodern Accounting Research Methodology. I
eager to write a mode of dialogue or trialogue as I used to it in the previous writings. Of course, it will be
not in monologue or even not in quadalogue. Trialogue, to some extents, is an interchange and discussion
Prepared and Presented at the International Consortium on Accounting: Dancing with Diversities
and Local values in Multiparadigm Accounting Research {methodology) Orchestra, University of
Brawijaya, November 20-24, 2012.
Prof. Eko Ganis Sukoharsono, MCom-Hons, Ph.D: An Imaginary Dialogue on Postmodern ,Page 2
of ideas among three persons and groups having different origins, philosophies, principles, or
backgrounds. At an end, I decided to use a dialogue for this paper.
The dialogue is an imaginary thought. The dialogue is between two persons which are an accounting
thinker and a research student. Both is engaged to share an accounting knowledge in particular of
methodology and method in a postmodern accounting research. This is, for me, a big thought being a
researcher knowing bit beyond a theory of accounting in practice, rather it is a philosophical thought in
nature. I believe some accounting people hate this, but some are enjoyed to journey a trip in a
philosophy of accounting methodology. Both, of course, are in a different corner. One or some is (are) in
a left continuum and others are in a right one. Of course, we are not possible to meet them in shaking
hands. Rather, both continuums put in a critical debate and sometimes in a dispute.
Well enjoy yourself La kum dinukum waliadin (Al kafirun: 6). This carries a meaning you shall
have your religion and I shall have my religion. Entire to the paper, I define accounting is based on the
Postmodern perspective which is as accountability processes of everyday economic, environment, social
and spiritual activities involving either monetary and non-monetary values. The definition is moving
beyond what has been understood as "the art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant
manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least, of financial character,
and interpreting the results thereof (AICPA).
Accounting Thinker : Say left and right continuum are the Allah blessing. Allah always gives to us
a disputable range in our lives. If there is any positive, then there is any
negative, if there is any man and of course woman is there too. If there are any
pros and there are any cons as well. I do not mind any disputable thought, but
we need an appreciation if there is any day, it is because of any night. It is a
complimentary life.
Research Student : Thinker, are we going to discuss a postmodern accounting research?
Accounting Thinker : Yes We are now and have already engaged in a postmodern accounting
agenda! Since in this prologue, we have entered a postmodern accounting door.
But, think clearly, our dialogue is not following the specific persons, Derrida,
Bourdieu, Kuntowijoyo and Nataatmadja. Rather postmodern is belong to
everyone.
Accounting thinker is trying to convince the research student that since the beginning sentence, an aura of
postmodern is felt. Then, the Thinker emphasized if it was there, postmodern was started to exist.
Sometimes, it is hard to feel that Postmodern is there. Postmodern is, it seems to me, everywhere, or even
anywhere.
The purpose of the paper is imaginarily dialogue between two accountants. One is an accounting thinker
and another is an accounting research student. The dialogue is to explicate a methodology and method in
postmodern accounting research. As a distinct continuum of paradigm, postmodern is placed in distinctive
research mode where is anti foundational pragmatism and eclecticism in accounting. Postmodern is
selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas, instead of following some single doctrine or style.
Postmodern in Nature
Accounting Thinker : I remember when I read an article of Sukoharsono (2010) where
Postmodernisme adalah ungkapan yang sangat kontroversial. Hadir

dengan ungkapan-ungkapan yang serba penuh reaksioner. Sebut saja antara
lain dekonstruksisme, nihilisme, lokalisme, dan spiritualisme.
Kehadirannya mewarnai banyak disiplin ilmu dalam telaah mode
intelektual dalam merubah paradigm berfikir tentang ontology,
epistemology dan methodology. Sering pula difahami postmodernisme
melakukan usaha merubah tradisi intelektual yang sudah mapan.
("Postmodernism is a phrase that is very controversial. It comes with the all
expressions full of reactionaries. Mention for example deconstructionism
'nihilism' localism', and spiritualism'. Presence coloring many disciplines in the
study of intellectual fashion in changing the paradigm of thinking about
ontology, epistemology and methodology. Often understood postmodernism
'make an effort to change the intellectual tradition that has been established. "
(Sukoharsono, 2010:1)
Research Student : Yes, Thinker, I have read too. It is controversial but it enlightens the
peoples thoughts on our accounting lives.
Accounting Thinker : Not everyone has the same idea and read this
Intelektual yang secara tradisi mengedepankan rasionalitas dan

objektivitas, mulai dirubah dengan melibatkan spiritualitas dan
subjektivitas. Tradisi justifikasi signifikansi kebenaran dengan alat
matematis dan statistika, diungkit dengan diskursus, partisipasi kontektual,
naratif dan transendental. Satu lagi yaitu tradisi justifikasi generalisasi,
dibantah dengan mengedepankan kearifan local (Intellectual tradition which
emphasizes rationality and objectivity, began to be changed by the involvement
of spirituality and subjectivity. Significant justification tradition of truth with
mathematical and statistical tools is challenged by a discourse, participation,
contextual, narrative and transcendental. One more generalization justified
tradition is denied by promoting a local wisdom (Sukoharsono, 2010:1).
Research Student : Thinker, I confused to understand what is postmodernism?
Accounting Thinker : Here is Postmodernism in a philosophy
The above table is to draw a dichotomy between modern and postmodern. There are 5 (five) philosophical
assumptions to place in distinct angles: (1) Ontological, Epistemological, Axiological, Rhetorical and
Methodological Assumptions. Each assumption leads to an impact of accounting methodological choice.
Of course, one to another has disputable in its essences. Ontologically, postmodern comes to an idea that
reality is objective and singular, having distant from the researcher. The researcher is not embedded to an
object of the research. It is so called postmodern is subjective and multiple and being embedded in a
study.
Research Student : Ehm well it is beyond my mind, Thinker!
Accounting Thinker : I havent finished yet explicating the Postmodern Philosophy here is in terms
of epistemology.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies on knowledge. It attempts to answer the
basic question: what distinguishes true (adequate) knowledge from false (inadequate)
knowledge? The questions translate into issues of scientific methodology: how can one develop
theories or models that are better than competing theories? It also forms one of the pillars of the
new sciences of cognition, which developed from the information processing approach to
psychology, and from artificial intelligence, as an attempt to develop computer programs that
mimic a human's capacity to use knowledge in an intelligent way.
When we look at the history of epistemology, we can discern a clear trend, in spite of the
confusion of many seemingly contradictory positions of what is postmodernism. The first
theories of knowledge stressed its absolute, permanent character, whereas the later
(Postmodernism) theories put the emphasis on its relativity or situation-dependence, its
continuous development or evolution, and its active interference with the world and its subjects
and objects. The whole trend moves from a static, passive view of knowledge towards a more
and more adaptive and active one.
Accounting Thinker : Well put it this way the dispute is alike of Al-Quran - Surat Al
Kafirun
(1) Say, O unbelievers

(2) I do not serve that which you serve
(3) Nor do you serve Him Whom I serve
(4) Nor am I going to serve that which you serve
(5) Nor are you going to serve Him whom I serve
(6) You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion
(Al Kafirun: 1-5)
The Surah Al Kafirun inspires that modern and postmodern have its own contexts. It places in a
particular position. Postmodern epistemologically places its position that a researcher is
embedded and participate in its research object.
Postmodernism and Its Research Agenda
There are several scholars associated with the postmodernism. They are Lyotard (1984),
Foucoult (1979), Baudrillard (19, Jameson (1992), and Derida. Each of them contributes to the
development of postmodernism research agenda in different ways. The two prominent scholars
will be explored here.
Accounting Thinker : There are many actually, but the two postmodernist scholars I will
explore them: Foucoult and Lyotard.
To summarise Foucault's works would tantamount to a mutilation of a body of

work that defies categorization. If such categorization were attempted, Foucault's
work would have to include two chronological stages: that of archaeology and
that of genealogy. The first concerns the conditions for the emergence of the
human sciences and the later with the strategic roles that knowledge played in
fields of public administration and policy. Such strategies facilitate the
maintenance of order and organization. Central in this strategy is the use of
surveillance with its implications of hierarchical observance, normalizing
judgement and examination (Stewart, 1992). The purpose of such a understanding
and knowledge is to render the strange familiar and the familiar strange. Apart
from this, the purpose of his work is to enlighten so that people would see things
differently and enable people to perhaps think with a difference. The essential
merit of a Foucauldian approach also lies in that it successfully bridges the
divides between structural and phenomenological approachers (Dreyfus and
Rabinow, 1982) between structural and historical analysis and between Marxist
and Critical Theory (Smart, 1985; Poster, 1984). A key feature derived from
Foucault's works is that knowledge is also possible through the knowledge of the
qualities and characteristics of opposites. Foucauldian epistemology would be
based on the idea that things are also known by their differences or opposites. The
second Foucauldian quality is that in the human sciences, including accounting,
human beings are first the object of knowledge and later human beings are the
subject of knowledge. Thus for Foucault, in Madness and Civilisation (1967),
psychiatry and psychology as sciences in the human world are the result of a
certain practice. The practice which confines, studies and classifies humans. In
this way humans are the object of knowledge and at the same time, humans
become the subject of and to this knowledge. Psychiatry and psychology, as forms
of knowledge now creates a subject of the human which further confines and
categorises humans. Thus in Foucauldian terms, knowledge and power are
complementary. For Foucault, power leads to knowledge and knowledge to
power.
"...we should admit...that power produces knowledge (and not simply by

encouraging it because it serves power or by applying it because it is useful); that
power and knowledge directly imply one another; that there is no power relation
without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge
that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations"
(Foucault, 1977, p. 27).
Accounting Thinker : Differently, Lyotard has contributed to the Postmodern research agenda
in the following context
Lyotard occupies a significant position in postmodern thinking primarily because

his (1984) book The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (first
published in 1979) was for many British readers their first introduction to the
links between education and the postmodern condition. Lyotards manifesto in
that book has turned out to be uncannily accurate: education has been
commodified; performativity (it works) has come to replace scholarship
(knowledge for its own sake); information has replaced knowledge; and the
computer has become the major shaping force upon educational practices.
Lyotard is famous particularly for his assault on grand narratives of modernism
(Darwinism, Freudianism, Marxism) which attempt to totalise, or explain and
encompass reality. Lyotard calls rather for local narratives, small stories that
explore particulars in a historical and cultural context. The proliferation of local
narratives gives weight to difference over sameness, in which we actively
encourage and respect plurality. Lyotards main influence on education research

in the postmodern derives from his challenge to the authority of science at the
expense of narrative knowing. Also, his work encourages us to get researchers to
focus on local, contextualised projects, and to entertain and broadcast plural
voices and identities, even within single subjects. His other main contribution is to
challenge the modernist desire for democratic consensus at the expense of
creative dissensus. He believes that we have not yet developed an adequate
literacy for difference (which may look as if it is conflictual), and so we either
descend into open hostility or seek low level (re)conciliation. Neither is fruitful. I
will take up this issue of the value of dissensus in research in a later section
discussing life history research.
Accounting Thinker : Those are the two postmodern scholars. Differently, Derida focuses his
postmodern stance on,
Derrida called his approach "deconstruction". Deconstruction has become associated with
the attempt to expose and undermine the oppositions, hierarchies and paradoxes on which
particular texts, philosophical and otherwise, are founded.
Derrida's strategy involved a phase of thinking in a dual way about everything, to the
point that
... all the conceptual oppositions of metaphysics

(signifier/signified; sensible/intelligible; writing/speech; passivity/activity; etc.)
- to the extent that they ultimately refer to the presence of something present
(for example, in the form of the identity of the subject, who is present for all his
operations,
present beneath every accident or event,
self-present in its "living speech",
present in its enunciations, in the present objects and acts of its language, etc.)
become non-pertinent(Positions pp 28-30).
Derrida considered that when encountering what he called a "classical philosophical

opposition", one never encounters "peaceful coexistence" of the two opposing concepts,
but rather a "violent hierarchy", where one of the two dominates over the other.
"In a classical philosophical opposition we are not dealing with the peaceful
coexistence of a vis--vis, but rather with a violent hierarchy. One of the two
terms governs the other (axiologically, logically, etc.), or has the upper hand"
(Positions, p.41).
In order to begin the deconstruction, one must break the link between the two opposing
concepts.
To deconstruct the opposition, first of all, is to overturn the hierarchy at a given

moment (Positions p.41).
But, as a second step, Derrida added that one must do what is needed so that the two
concepts stay separate and non hierarchical. In order to achieve this, one must intervene
in the field effectively, to create new marks, a new concept that no longer is, and never
could be included in the previous regime.
Not to synthesize the terms in opposition, but to mark their difference and eternal
interplay.[38]
Derrida said this phase was structural and that it was "the necessity of an interminable
analysis" because "the hierarchy of dual oppositions always reestablishes itself".
The infinite task is then to show how every speech always dramatize this
oppositions,
establishing an arbitrary center and an hierarchic relation
(body-soul, existing-being, passivity-activity, sensible-intelligible, receptivity-
spontaneity,
heteronomy-autonomy, empirical-transcendental, immanent-transcendent, local-
global, femininity-masculinity, animal-Man, beast-sovereign, etc.) (Positions
p.42).
To mark the undecidable of all oppositions working across all texts in western culture, he
created marks like
the pharmakon - that is neither remedy nor poison, neither good nor evil, neither
the inside nor the outside, neither speech nor writing;
the supplement that is neither a plus nor a minus, neither an outside nor the
complement of an inside, neither accident nor essence, etc.;
the hymen that is neither confusion nor distinction, neither identity nor
difference, neither consummation nor virginity, neither the veil nor unveiled,
neither inside nor the outside, etc.;
the gram that is neither a signifier nor a signified, neither a sign nor a thing,
neither presence nor an absence, neither a position nor a negation, etc.;
spacing that is neither space nor time;
the incision that is neither the incised integrity of a beginning, or of a simple
cutting into, nor simple secondary, etc. (Positions p. 43),
Perhaps Derrida's most quoted and famous assertion, which appears in an essay on
Rousseau in his book Of Grammatology (1967), is the statement that "there is nothing
outside the text" (il n'y a pas de hors-texte), Critics of Derrida have quoted it as a slogan
to characterize and stigmatize deconstruction.[41][42][43][44][45] Derrida once explained that
this assertion "which for some has become a sort of slogan, in general so badly
understood, of deconstruction (...) means nothing else: there is nothing outside context. In
this form, which says exactly the same thing, the formula would doubtless have been less
shocking. I am not certain that it would have provided more to think about.
The end of deconstruction has been trumpeted by many in academe since the late
1980s.[47] Nevertheless, deconstruction and Derrida's popularity continued to increase. In
2002 a feature-length documentary on his life and work, filmed by Kirby Dick and Amy
Ziering Kofman, achieved commercial success in the United States as well as

internationally. One of Derrida's last public speaking appearancesin Campbell Hall at
the University of California at Santa Barbara (late October, 2003) produced attendance
that exceeded the seating capacity of the hall (900). The continuing stream of books on
Derrida over 150 titles since 2000 versus about 25 for John Searle and about 40 for
Richard Rorty, for example indicates no abatement in the popularity of deconstruction
in relation to other competing trends in Philosophy.
Research Student : Thinker, I found many terms for postmodern, there are postmodernism,
postmodernist, postmodernity and postmodernisation what are they
actually concerned, Thinker?
Accounting Thinker : Well to some extents I will explicate them differently here
Postmodernism is referred to the intellectual study and theorising of
postmodernity, whereas Postmodernists are those who are the theorists,
researchers and pundits who work in the field of postmodernism.
Research Student : How are about the other two, Postmodernity and Postmodernisation?
Accounting Thinker : Here we are Postmodernity, which is a historical and cultural

condition arising from the post-industrial process of postmodernisation,
including changes in patterns of production and consumption, leisure
and work, and the phenomenon of globalization, whereas
Postmodernisation, which refers to the technologising of society over the
past thirty years in particular, and the interest in technological futures
(human-machine interactions, cyborgs, bioengineering, biotechnologies,
the roles of computers, robotics, as well as accounting information
system)
Accounting Thinker : I have suggested that we already inhabit the condition of postmodernity,
whether or not we subscribe to its theorising as postmodernism, most
obviously since the development of personal computers and the Internet
over the past decade in particular. Consider:
the phenomenon of globalisation and its resistance in the anti-capitalist

movement
the emergence of information as a commodity in a post-industrial
climate where consumption has expanded from goods and services to
signs (information, advertising, fashion)
a related economic shift from production of goods and services to
production of information, in which education plays a central role, and
where lifelong learning offers a central metaphor and practice
the emergence of computer access and literacy linked to an
information culture underpinned by the World Wide Web
the emergence of interest in difference, with its paradoxical effect of

multiculturalism and ethnic tolerance on the one hand, and return to
nationalisms and warring ethnic identities on the other
a related interest in pluralism and tolerance of plural possibilities,
rather than a search for explanatory truths
the decline in interest in formal religions, but a growth of interest in
New Age spiritualities and return to fundamentalisms and evangelisms
the emergence of socitalism (weak socialist/democratic capitalism)
as the primary force in politics, in the wake of the transformation of
the Eastern European political landscape
the tendency to turn many facets of life, including the educational and
therapeutic, into entertainment (for example, game shows,
confessional TV, soap operas, advertising as art and story). This is
often referred to as spectacularisation the growth of the society of
the spectacle (Debord, 1983), where even war becomes a spectacle for
media consumption. Jean Baudrillard made an infamous claim that
the Gulf War never happened, by which he meant that the Gulf War
was the first wholly televised conflict, consisting mainly of film of
night vision missile traces, and thoroughly biased, rehearsed, accounts
of the conflict, turning the war into a wholly media-ted, virtual event,
one of macabre infotainment
following from the above point, the arrival of the precession of the
simulacrum where the virtual precedes, and is preferred to, the real
Accounting Thinker : Are you ok now ?
Accounting Thinker : For more details, some accounting research agenda are
No Postmodern Agenda Research Topics

1 Accounting Historiography i). Accounting Historiography
ii). Archeology of Accounting
iii). Genealogy of Accounting
2 Metaphor and Accounting i). Simulacra and Hyper reality of Accounting

Rhetoric ii). Accounting and Business Sustainability
iii). Contemporary Accounting Discourses
3 Ethic, Moral and Spiritual i). Relations between Accounting and
Accounting Religion
ii). Culture and Religion in Accounting
iii). Transformation on Ethic, Ethnic and
Religion
4 Power and Knowledge on i). Power and Knowledge on Double Entry
Accounting ii). Power of University and Accounting
Profession
iii). Cultural Capital and Accountability
5 Deconstructing Accounting i). Speculation Vs Investment
Phenomena ii). Going Concern Vs Liquidation
iii). Agency Theory Vs Stakeholder Theory
and Holistic
Methodology Versus Method

It is confusing to distinguish between the two: Methodology and Method. This word is
seemingly interchangeable. Many research reports use it in the same or similar manner. It fact, it
is different. Thinker and the Student are trying to understand clearly this manner. Many
accounting research, mostly (if it is not all to say all), have a different meaning. Some used in
explicitly methodology in a one chapter, some are with focus on the word of method.
Accounting Thinker : When I lectured to do a research, I always remained all the participants
of the class to distinguish between methodology and method.
Research Student : but Thinker, I found many lecturers, even professors some did not
understand clearly the difference between methodology and method.
Accounting Thinker : Yes surely it is confusing, but when we look at closely then we
could distinguish between them.
Accounting Thinker : Methodology is a branch of the philosophy of science which concerns

with methods and techniques of scientific inquiry, their composition and ability
to yield valid knowledge. Although methodology is often confused with
methods, their referents are related just as biology is related to living organisms
or as sociology is related to society. The aim of methodology then is to
describe and analyze not the objects or the products but the processes of
scientific inquiry, to investigate the potentialities and limitations of particular
techniques, to reveal their presuppositions and epistemological consequences,
to suggest structural reasons for successes and failures, and to develop, test and
offer generalizations about scientific procedures.
Accounting Thinker : Is it clear for you?
Accounting Thinker : Again put is this way
Methodology
Is a study of principles in a way of learning any discipline to accept or reject
knowledge
Its roots in the schools of both the philosophy of science and sociology of
knowledge
It is involved with the process of thinking and formulating research agendas
Examining methods
Formulating and examining the process of knowledge and theorizing
Whereas, method is
the techniques or tools by which data is gathered and analysed
the way in which the following tools can be conducted
eg., interviewing, documenting, observing, recording, note taking, acting, writing
and the use of statistics
Accounting Thinker : Here is detail of research views under postmodernism
Methods and No Method
Postmodernism believes on explicit methods, implicit methods and or no method. It is confusing,

but when we are adopting postmodernism research in nature, it comes to an end that research is
not always with a method and the key is language. Conducting research in accounting agenda,
phenomena constructed by society are understood by language.
Accounting Thinker : Please do not be confused with these There are three established streams
of thought within postmodernism. One (deconstructive postmodernism) argues
that there is a radical rupture between modernity and postmodernity, based on
the linguistic turn. They argue that reality is grounded in language and that
the natural world, taken for granted by empirical science as an object for
study, is in fact the object of construction through language and discourse (the
effects of language embodied in social practices and material artefacts). This
phenomenon is generally referred to as the crisis of representation. The world
is never known directly, but is constructed, or given meaning, through
discourse. Such meanings are historically and culturally contingent, dependent

upon the legitimation processes of dominant discourses embodied in differing
communities of practice.
Accounting Thinker : In essence, the first is a method which is explicitly carried out to a
research. The second stream of postmodernism is interested less in
language and more in general cultural and historical phenomena such as
art, politics, religion, science studies, ecology and as well as accounting.
This school (for example, Jencks, 1992) draws heavily on the ideas of
new science such as complexity and chaos theory, emergence of form,
and principles of uncertainty and indeterminacy.
The second does not see a single rupture between modernism and postmodernism, but a double
coding (Jencks, 1992, 1995), in which both rupture and continuity coincide. They see
deconstruction not as a form of postmodernism at all, but as part of the avant garde of
modernism. They disagree with Lyotards definition of postmodernism as incredulity towards
grand narratives, seeing rather the emergence of a new, inclusive grand narrative that is holistic,
based on convergence of science, the humanities, the ecology movement, radical feminisms, and
new religious movements. They see tolerance of difference and pluralism as core values in
such an emergent grand narrative, that borrows from new science the notions of ambiguity,
paradox, indeterminacy and uncertainty and see these as basic features of postmodernity. Within
this grand narrative epistemology, local narratives are explicitly honoured. Charles Jencks, the
main spokesperson for this view calls for a return to public concerns, to postmodernism as a
return to a messy democracy, in which populism replaces elitism, and tolerance of difference is
the major virtue.
Accounting Thinker : The second one believes on implicit method which is holistic in nature.
The third is no method. Even though, this no method is rare to be used it
in a research agenda, but it inspires a research to conduct a research with
no method. He/ she goes as they like. Finally it comes to an end as a
research report.
Scheurich (1997) offers three informing guidelines for research in the postmodern. It must be
stressed that turning such guidelines into principles, a prescriptive manifesto, or fundamental
truths, is resisted by the postmodern sensibility. The guidelines are:
Research in the postmodern attempts to erase the distinction between research practices
and the subjectivity of the researcher. It is recognised that the two are intertwined.
Research practices, like all social practices, come to construct identities, of which
researcher is one. Moulding this identity, as an aesthetic and ethical project, is what
Foucault (see Bernauer and Rasmussen, 1994) refers to as a practice of the self. Thus,
what happens to the researcher in the social practices of research is considered to be as
important as what happens to the subjects or objects (usually texts) of the research.
Research in the postmodern notes, reflexively, that modernist research is disciplined by

practices of reason, and wishes to subvert this while accepting its particular value. A
paradigm case here is Derridas (1990) challenge to Foucaults (1971) Madness and
Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Derrida claimed that one cannot
write an account of the irrational (madness) from the point of view of reason.
Research in the postmodern notes the crisis of representation of the real, as noted
earlier. Following from the point above, Foucault represents madness in his account,
but this is not an account of the mad. Indeed, the account passes through several layers of
representation. Foucault takes historical texts that already offer representations of lost
voices, and then re-represents these in his own research voice. Further, research accounts
of the supposed real (even through direct report: nave or transparent representation) are
not seen to uncover a constitutive reality waiting to be described, but to constitute that
reality through the acts and conversations of research itself. Scheurich (1997: 175)
suggests, provocatively, that realist research will not survive postmodernism, not the
philosophy but the era.
Validity and Reliability in Postmodernism
It is the intention of this paper to highlight some of the issues surrounding the use and nature of
the term 'validity' and to establish that 'validity' is not a single, fixed or universal concept, but
rather a contingent construct, inescapably grounded in the processes and intentions of particular
research methodologies and projects. One of the most recurring features in critical discussions of
'validity' is the combination of 'validity' with the term 'reliability'.
Research Student : Thinker, now I come to the difficulties seeing Postmodenism in the form
of accounting research whether there is any validity and reliability.
Could you explicate what are they?
Accounting Thinker : Why is it not? A much cited definition of 'validity' is that of

Hammersley's (1987: 69) "An account is valid or true if it represents
accurately those features of the phenomena, that it is intended to
describe, explain or theorise." Although this would seem to be an all-
encompassing and reasonable description, many other definitions fail to
envisage such a 'realist approach' (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998: 282). The
fact that there are so many possible definitions and replacement terms
for 'validity' suggests that it is a concept entirely relative to the person
and belief system from which it stems.
The exact nature of 'validity' is a highly debated topic in both educational and social research
since there exists no single or common definition of the term. Therefore, in order to understand
something of the range of meanings attached to 'validity', it is essential to review a selection of
the range of definitions given by leading authors.
Accounting Thinker : Hammersley (1987) reviews the extent to which 'reliability' and 'validity'
are defined by a selection of different authors writing from different
methodological positions. I will avoid merely repeating those definitions
verbatim and instead offer a few key words summarising each definition.
Within the postmodern paradigm, interpretation of validity and reliability is typically viewed as
an inextricable (and, indeed, unavoidable) element of data collection. On these grounds,
Maxwell's segregation of description and interpretation is not only a false distinction, but
effectively impossible. Interpretation is essentially couched within the rhetorics that the
researcher uses to describe a situation and is mutually constructed between researchers and
subjects.
Some postmodernism researchers have argued that the term validity is not applicable to
postmodernism research and have at the same time realised the need for some kind of qualifying
check or measure for their research. As a result many researchers have espoused their own
theories of 'validity' and have often adopted what they consider to be more appropriate terms,
such as 'trustworthiness', 'worthy', 'relevant', 'plausible', 'confirmable', 'credible' or 'representative'
(Denzin and Lincoln, 1998; Guba and Lincoln, 1989; Hammersley, 1987; Mishler, 1990;
Wolcott, 1990). Other qualitative researchers have rejected the notion of 'validity', in any form,
as entirely inappropriate to their work.
Accounting Thinker : Ehm at last here is its reasons: Postmodernism always remains a matter
of interpretation. As there is no hard data provided through discourse
analysis, the reliability and the validity of one's research/findings
depends on the force and logic of one's arguments. Even the best
constructed arguments are subject to their own deconstructive reading
and counter-interpretations. The validity of postmodernism analysis is,
therefore, dependent on the quality of the rhetoric and framing the
ruptures of events and history. Despite this fact, well-founded
arguments remain authoritative over time and have concrete meanings.
How to Start A Postmodern Accounting Research
To start an accounting research project, there is a certain way to follow. It depends on the
research paradigm concerned.
Research Student : Thinker, I am now thinking to do a research, but I did not know how to
begin?
Accounting Thinker : Postmodern places a research start which is easy. You could begin by
nowhere, anywhere and somewhere.
To Start A Research
RISET DIAWALI DARI:

- Individual Experiences
- Theoretical Developments Perspective
- Conceptual Framew orks Choices
- Previous Research Findings
- Methodological Choices
- General Social Phenomena
Riset
Riset
Background
Problems
Examples of Postmodern Accounting Research

Accounting Thinker : It would beneficial if you could read examples of accounting research
claimed as with the frame of Postmodernism paradigm.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis and Gaffikin, MJR. 1993. Power and Knowledge in Accounting: Some
Analyses and Thoughts on Social, Political and Economic Forces in Accounting and
Profession in Indonesia (1800-1950). Working Papers. University of Wollongong.
Australia.
The paper provides some preliminary analyses and thoughts on longterm
qualitative research project investigating the power-knowledge relations of the
emergence, existence, and penetration of accounting in the social context. This
first analysis is to explicate accounting and its relation to the Foucauldian
power-knowledge concept. The second analysis is that the historical
understanding of the development - up to 1950s condition of accounting
practice and profession in Indonesia has been moulded heavily by the issues of
colonialism's legacy. It was the fact that the Dutch accounting practices have
dominated even after the independence of Indonesia. The third and fourth
analyses has been stressed on some
innovations of accounting knowledge through the development of the
capital markets, industrialisation, and the new power of the university elite.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2000. Bookkeeping to Professional Accounting: A University Power in

Indonesia. The International Journal of Accounting and Business Society. Volume 8.
Number 1. August.
The paper is historical. It explores the development of accounting from the
mode of bookkeeping knowledge to a new disciplinary power of accounting
in Indonesia. It argues that after the independence of the Republic of Indonesia,
17 August 1945, a radical change of an accounting education discipline from
the Dutch political administration to the indigenous Indonesian management
was the main issue to a new university system. The university became a
powerful system to transform bookkeeping tradition to accounting profession.
Macintosh, Norman B., Shearer, T., Thornton, Daniel B. and Welker, Michael. 2000.
Accounting as simulacrum and hyperreality: Perspectives on Income and Capital.
Accounting, Organizations and Society 25. pp.13-50
This paper draws on two independent strands of literature-Baudrillard's orders-
of-simulacra theoretic and financial accounting theory - to investigate the
ontological status of information in accounting reports. It draws on
Baudrillard's concepts of simulacra, hyperreality and implosion to trace the
historical transformations of the accounting signs of income and capital from
Sumerian times to the present. It posits that accounting today no longer refers
to any objective reality but instead circulates in a ``hyperreality'' of self-
referential models. The paper then examines this conclusion from the
viewpoint of recent clean surplus model research and argues that the distinction
between income and capital is arbitrary and irrelevant provided the
measurement process satisfies the clean surplus relation. Although accounting
is arbitrary and hyper reality, it does impart a sense of exogeniety and
predictability, particularly through the income calculation. Therefore, it can be
relied on for decisions that do have real, material and social consequences. The
paper ends with some implications of Baudrillard's theoretic for accounting,
reflections on accounting's implications for Baudrillard's theoretic and
suggestions for future research.
Baker, C. Richard. 2004. Accounting In The Bosom Of Abraham: A Genealogical Investigation

Of Wealth. Fourth Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference.
Singapore. 4 to 6 July.
Archeological investigations indicate that the search for wealth, and the related
practice of accounting for wealth, has been an integral part of human history
from the earliest recorded periods. Whether revealed in accounting records
inscribed on Mesopotamian clay tablets, or reflected in archives like the Code
of Hammurabi, or Biblical accounts of the life of Abraham, the concept of
wealth has been a persistent theme in human history. Archeological
investigations search for physical evidence, the interpretation of which can lead
us to a better understanding of human activity in cultures previous to our own.
Michel Foucault (1970, 1972) introduced us to another type of archeology in
which the objective is to outline particular configurations in order to reveal
relations between discursive formations and nondiscursive domains (Foucault,
1972, p. 157; Hopwood, 1987, p. 230). Beyond Foucaults well known
archeologies of human practices, he delineated a genealogical methodology,
which concerns itself with ruptures and transitions whereby words, categories,
practices and institutions adopt new meanings and significances as they
become intertwined with new purposes and new wills (Hopwood, 1987, p.
230). This essay marshals evidence from traditional archeological
investigations and employs Foucaultian methods of archeological and
genealogical interpretation to develop a genealogy of wealth. As Foucault
would suggest, the ways in which wealth has been understood have changed
markedly through time; there have been ruptures and transitions in the
understanding of wealth and its role in human history. To illuminate these
ruptures and transitions, the essay metaphorically examines the life of Abraham
as he is depicted in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and the Quran, thereby
demonstrating that the concept of wealth has been of central concern
throughout human history.
Sukoharsono, Eko and Qudzi, Novrida. 2008. Accounting in the Golden Age of Singosari
Kingdom: A Foucauldian Perspective. Presented at the Simposium Nasional Akuntansi
XI, Pontianak
The aim of this study is to explore the history of accounting in Indonesia. In
this case, a particular period of Indonesia history the form and the existence
of the accounting system in the Singosari Kingdom era is the focus of the
investigation. In the context of this study, accounting is not simply a method of
calculation, but it is a discipline with complex phenomena in which it nfluences
the individual, organizational, and social orders. In addition, the range of its
aspects is from social, political and economic point of view.
This study is conducted by using a Foucauldian concept of the relation between
the power and knowledge. The historical accounting researchers use the
Foucauldian approach to show the accounting complexity of the power and
knowledge structures within a society. This approach shows the accounting
system as a valuable social science for disciplining the society and manifesting
a comprehensive political power within the society. Then the major concern of
the methodological analyses in the accounting research is to disclose how
accounting becomes a disciplinary power and constitutive activity of
knowledge.
The kingdom of Singosari (1222-1292) was historically closely related to the
foundation of Majapahit kingdom, particularly in the field of public finance
and administrative accountability. There was a fact that during Singosari and
Majapahit kingdom, state-craft stressed the importance of a full treasury for
successful governmental activities. Both kingdoms evolved a regular system of
taxation. The taxation system, in some extent, was a complex system in which
it provided the tax for merchandise in various tariffs and different types of
levies based on the commodities and the problems occurred. The complex
system of the taxation would not be possible without involving the accounting
in term of calculability. One of the particular developments of the accounting
system in form of writing during the Singosari kingdom was related to the
mechanism in which writing was used for the purpose of administration and
accountability of the tax collection in the royal court of the Singosari kingdom.
The records of tax collection were reflected in simple forms. For instance, the
Inscription of Turyyan mentions that the earning of the society in a year was
equal to 1 kati and 3 gold swarna. Then it can be concluded that the
development of accounting in Indonesia is not an instant process, but it
emerged through a long and complex process of the history. The kingdom of
Singosari used accounting as a technique to discipline the subjects under the
kingdoms territory. Through this study, it is clear that accounting had a
significant role as a supporting means of the Singosari kingdom development.
It did not merely provide the technical calculation, but also the diverse roles in
social, economic, and political life
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2011. Green Accounting To Be A Serious Business of Accounting

Discipline: An Imaginary Neo-Postmodernist Dialogue. Presented at the Plenary Session
of the Grand Opening of the Accounting National Symposium (Simposium Nasional
Akuntansi SNA) XIV ACEH, INDONESIA 2023 July.
This paper is an imaginary neo-postmodernist dialogue between two spiritual
persons. They are Kyai and Santri. Kyai is representing a senior
accounting academician and Santri is as a a junior public accountant. Both
are curious to have a dialogue on green concern. It is relatively new of both
engaging on green accounting. Using a neo-postmodernist perspective, both
enlighten accounting discipline to have a better position on the growing
concern of environmental accounting to be a specific discipline as a new public
accounting specialist.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2011. Luca Paciolis Inspiration to Response Lho, Mana
Akuntansinya (Where is Its Accounting)?: An Imaginary Spiritual Dialogue. presented
at the Epistemology Debate: Lho, Mana Akuntansinya? At the Postgraduate Program, the
Department of Accounting, the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of
Brawijaya, Friday, 28 October.
The paper is an imaginary spiritual dialogue. The dialogue is between two
spiritual persons indicated as Luca Baru and Luca Lama, both are accounting
students at FEB UB. Luca Pacioli claimed as the founding father of accounting
was trying to explore what was meant by accounting in 1494, whereas Luca
Lama is a doctoral student who is seeking a new identity what is the current
accounting meant, whereas Luca Baru just started knowing a glossy
accounting. Spirituality is used to transcend the imaginary dialogue of the two.
There is no hurt between the two (Tidak ada luka diantara kedua nya).
Epilogue: Go with Postmodern

Accounting Thinker : Postmodern Accounting Research has rich of ideas and thoughts. It
provides distinct truths on its findings. A range of accounting research
can be drawn from ancient accounting histories to future predictions.
Interestingly, postmodern accounting research could start from
individual experiences, theoretical development to construct and
reconstruct a phenomenon.
Research Student : Thinker, could we explore individual biography of an accountant to be a

research topic under postmodernism?
Accounting Thinker : Of course, we could do it. Individual biography or even autobiography is

possible to be an accounting research agenda.
Accounting Thinker : Finally, postmodernism opens new ideas and challenges to any
accounting scholars who interest to explore new colors of accounting.
References:
Baker, C. Richard. 2004. Accounting In The Bosom Of Abraham: A Genealogical Investigation

Of Wealth. Fourth Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference.
Singapore. 4 to 6 July.
Bernauer, J. and Rasmussen, D. 1994. The Final Foucault. London: The MIT Press.
Denzin, N. K and Lincoln, Y. S. 1998. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials.
London: Sage.
Derrida, J. 1990. Writing and Difference. London: Routledge.
Foucault, M. 1971. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. London:
Routledge.
Foucault, M. 1974. The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock Publications.
Foucault, M. 1989. The Order of Things. London: Routledge.
Guba, E. G., and Lincoln, Y. S. (1989). Fourth generation evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Hammersley, M. 1987. Some notes on the terms 'validity' and 'reliability. British Educational
Research Journal, 13(1), 73-81.
Jencks, C. 1992. (ed) The Post-Modern Reader. London: Academy Editions.
Jencks, C. 1995. 5th ed) What is Post-Modernism? London: Academy Editions.
Macintosh, Norman B., Shearer, T., Thornton, Daniel B. and Welker, Michael. 2000.
Accounting as simulacrum and hyperreality: Perspectives on Income and Capital.
Accounting, Organizations and Society 25. pp.13-50
Mishler, E. G. 1990. Validation in enquiry-guided research: The role of exemplars in narrative
studies. Harvard Educational Review, 60, 415-442.
Scheurich, J.J. 1997. Research Method in the Postmodern. London: Falmer Press.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis and Gaffikin, MJR. 1993. Power and Knowledge in Accounting: Some
Analyses and Thoughts on Social, Political and Economic Forces in Accounting and
Profession in Indonesia (1800-1950). Working Papers. University of Wollongong.
Australia.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2000. Bookkeeping to Professional Accounting: A University Power in
Indonesia. The International Journal of Accounting and Business Society. Volume 8.
Number 1. August.
Sukoharsono, Eko and Qudzi, Novrida. 2008. Accounting in the Golden Age of Singosari
Kingdom: A Foucauldian Perspective. Presented at the Simposium Nasional Akuntansi XI,
Pontianak
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2010. Metamorfosis Akuntansi Sosial dan Lingkungan: Mengkonstruksi
Akuntansi Sustainabilitas Berdimensi Spiritual. Unpublished Professorship Inauguration
Speech. Faculty of Economics. University of Brawijaya. 13 Desember.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2011. Green Accounting To Be A Serious Business of Accounting
Discipline: An Imaginary Neo-Postmodernist Dialogue. Presented at the Plenary Session
of the Grand Opening of the Accounting National Symposium (Simposium Nasional
Akuntansi SNA) XIV ACEH, INDONESIA 2023 July.
Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2011. Luca Paciolis Inspiration to Response Lho, Mana
Akuntansinya (Where is Its Accounting)?: An Imaginary Spiritual Dialogue. presented
at the Epistemology Debate: Lho, Mana Akuntansinya? At the Postgraduate Program, the
Department of Accounting, the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of
Brawijaya, Friday, 28 October.
Wolcott, H. F. 1990. On seeking--and rejecting--validity in qualitative research. In E. W. Eisner
& A. Peshkin (Eds.), Qualitative inquiry in education: The continuing debate (pp. 121-
152). New York: Teachers College Press.

Philosophical Assumptions of Postmodern

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Prof. Eko Ganis Sukoharsono, MCom-Hons, Ph.

D: An Imaginary Dialogue on Postmodern ,Page 1

An Imaginary Dialogue on Philosophical Assumptions of

Eko Ganis Sukoharsono

The paper explicates a thought of postmodern accounting research

Prologue: How how and how is Postmodernism?

Accounting Thinker : Welcome Dont go anywhere

Research Student : Thinker, are we going to discuss a postmodern accounting research?

Postmodernisme adalah ungkapan yang sangat kontroversial. Hadir

Intelektual yang secara tradisi mengedepankan rasionalitas dan

Research Student : Thinker, I confused to understand what is postmodernism?

Accounting Thinker : Here is Postmodernism in a philosophy

Research Student : Ehm well it is beyond my mind, Thinker!

(1) Say, O unbelievers

Postmodernism and Its Research Agenda

To summarise Foucault's works would tantamount to a mutilation of a body of

"...we should admit...that power produces knowledge (and not simply by

Lyotard occupies a significant position in postmodern thinking primarily because

encourage and respect plurality. Lyotards main influence on education research

... all the conceptual oppositions of metaphysics

Derrida considered that when encountering what he called a "classical philosophical

To deconstruct the opposition, first of all, is to overturn the hierarchy at a given

Ziering Kofman, achieved commercial success in the United States as well as

Accounting Thinker : Here we are Postmodernity, which is a historical and cultural

the phenomenon of globalisation and its resistance in the anti-capitalist

the emergence of interest in difference, with its paradoxical effect of

Accounting Thinker : Are you ok now ?

No Postmodern Agenda Research Topics

2 Metaphor and Accounting i). Simulacra and Hyper reality of Accounting

Methodology Versus Method

Accounting Thinker : Methodology is a branch of the philosophy of science which concerns

Accounting Thinker : Is it clear for you?

Accounting Thinker : Again put is this way

Accounting Thinker : Here is detail of research views under postmodernism

Methods and No Method

Postmodernism believes on explicit methods, implicit methods and or no method. It is confusing,

discourse. Such meanings are historically and culturally contingent, dependent

Research in the postmodern notes, reflexively, that modernist research is disciplined by

Validity and Reliability in Postmodernism

Accounting Thinker : Why is it not? A much cited definition of 'validity' is that of

How to Start A Postmodern Accounting Research

RISET DIAWALI DARI:

Examples of Postmodern Accounting Research

Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2000. Bookkeeping to Professional Accounting: A University Power in

Baker, C. Richard. 2004. Accounting In The Bosom Of Abraham: A Genealogical Investigation

Sukoharsono, Eko Ganis. 2011. Green Accounting To Be A Serious Business of Accounting

Epilogue: Go with Postmodern

Research Student : Thinker, could we explore individual biography of an accountant to be a

Accounting Thinker : Of course, we could do it. Individual biography or even autobiography is

Baker, C. Richard. 2004. Accounting In The Bosom Of Abraham: A Genealogical Investigation

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