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UCC Seminar Explored the Role of Accounting in Co-operative Democracy
The Department of Accounting and Finance and the Centre for Co-operative Studies at Cork University Business School, University College Cork, hosted a research seminar examining the relationship between accounting practices and democratic governance in co-operatives.
Dr. Elisavet Mantzari, Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Birmingham, delivered the session as part of the CUBS Research Seminar Series, presenting findings from her paper, Democratic Governance in Co-operatives: The Performative Role of Accounting.
Drawing on interviews conducted across a diverse range of UK co-operatives, Dr. Mantzari challenged the notion that accounting is a neutral tool in organisational governance. Instead, she argued that accounting functions as a constitutive democratic infrastructure, one that shapes what becomes visible and actionable within co-operative organisations, and by extension, how members engage with and control those organisations.
Adopting a performativity and critical performativity framework, the research traced how accounting practices can both enable and constrain key democratic principles, including transparency, member participation, and purpose-oriented decision-making.
A central theme of the presentation was what Dr. Mantzari described as accounting's ambivalent performativity; its capacity to serve or undermine democratic ends depending on how it is designed and deployed. The paper also highlighted innovative approaches taken by some co-operatives to re-appropriate accounting practices in ways that actively strengthen democratic governance.
The seminar offered valuable insights for those interested in co-operative governance and accountability, advancing an important debate around how accounting design can be harnessed as a tool for deeper democratic practice.