Corporate insolvency: policy, practice and professional organisation

The papers presented in this submission contribute to our understanding of a significantly under-researched specialism within the accountancy profession, namely that of insolvency. Beyond illustrating the complexity and multidisciplinary nature of the profession’s expert knowledge systems, the papers illustrate how this knowledge is applied in practice in the interpretation and application of insolvency law. In turn, this reveals the significant economic, social and political reach of accounting professional labour through specialised service lines and the potential value of professional work to the state in governing the economy and society. This includes facilitating an efficient exit framework for corporate failure, processing significant numbers of personal bankruptcies, redistributing economic loss amongst society, and reallocating resources to new (productive) uses. The papers explore the effects or consequences of professional judgement, expert opinion and the application of moral authority in policy interpretation, evaluation of outcomes and in phases of statutory reform. They also show how accounting and financial information is mobilised to build trust in crisis management contexts and the ‘desirable’ properties of accounting information in this regard. Combined with an understanding of the profession’s expert knowledge base, the papers show the extent to which the profession is trusted to implement state policy and the potential of accounting information to act as both a trust-building and accountability mechanism between the professionals and the range of private and public interests affected by insolvency. Through an interpretive approach, accounting as a social science, is studied with contextualised understandings of the individual and institutional players on the field. The identification of trust-based relationships in the insolvency profession direct attention towards the existence of professional networks and the evolutionary strategies that the profession engages in to ensure individual, firm and professional survival. In turn, this encourages academic reflection on how we might view the ‘accountancy profession’ and therefore also on novel research agendas