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 hyperreal, 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. Previous article in issue. Next article in issue.
“The Precession of Simulacra” Philosophers can get pretty excited about The Matrix. An apparent exception is Jean Baudrillard, the author of Simulacra and Simulation (henceforth, S&S), the book that appears in the movie. Numerous sources report Baudrillard saying that the movie “stemmed mostly from misunderstandings” of his work. Jun 06, 2018 Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) at Amazon.com.