Accounting numbers have served to 'dehumanise war'. This is not to suggest that accounting techniques have enabled the military to be more efficient in a business sense, rather that accounting has a conflict enhancing potential....."

The above statement is from your suggested readings from Week 5:

Cooper, C. and Catchpowle, L., 2009. US Imperialism in Action: An Audit-based Appraisal of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol. 20, no. 6, pp.716-734.

Does management accounting have a role to play in shaping organisational and societal realities? Do you agree with the above statement? Think about this in the context of tools such as 'income statements'; 'budgets' and/or 'cost-benefit-analysis' drawing on the themes introduced during the lecture (such as the Holocaust, the 2003 Iraq War, and/or NGOs in developing country contexts).

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The statement that accounting numbers have served to dehumanise war raises an important and thoughtprovoking question about the role of management acc... View the full answer