Taking accounting to the stage - what is the role of accounting in a theater?

• In arts and culture organizations significant targets referrers to intangible value creation that is difficult to measure. Aiming to support further improvements in approaching non-measureable value creation in accounting and management accounting, this paper discusses the role of accounting in the context of a publicly funded theater. The research design comprises two case studies and a literature review. A theoretical framework for the analysis is synthesized from arts management and accounting literature on intangibles and intellectual capital. The findings imply that accounting in a theater organization is multi-facetted; the role of accounting may be explained as having two different general tasks, an internal and an external task, which both occur in a tangible and an abstract dimension. Drawing from arts management theory, the paper suggests that accounting in an art firm can be viewed as an 'aesthetic play' in which given accounts are actors that need to be given place to play in order for intangible performance to render visible.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Accounting

Arts and Culture Organizations

Intangible value creation

Management control

Measurement

Business studies

Företagsekonomi

företagsekonomi

Business Administration

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)