New development: Using counter accounting as a methodology in public accountability and management research

This article explores what counter accounting is and how this methodology can offer a different way of presenting accounting and accountability information. It enables academics and activists external to the organizations being examined to challenge prevailing official positions through the provision of alternative narratives and/or financial statements. Many counter accounts produced to date focus on sustainability and social audit issues in the corporate world. This article recommends that the same techniques can be used to good effect in the public accountability and management context to challenge governments and other public sector bodies. It gives examples from the literature and identifies the topics of health and welfare, education, climate change, acts of war and disaster responses as suitable areas for further study. Given that counter accounting has yet to influence significant transformative societal change, it suggests greater use of social media as a timely way of building greater public awareness.