Demonstrating Value: How Entrepreneurs Design New Accounting Methods to Justify Innovations. Issue 4 (8th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barman, Emily; Hall, Matthew; Millo, Yuval
• Is Part Of: European accounting review. Volume 30:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 675
• Page End: 704
• Publication Date: 2021-08-08
• Subjects: Innovation -- Entrepreneurial storytelling -- Social enterprise -- Social return on investment; Accounting -- Europe -- Periodicals; Accounting -- Periodicals; Comptabilité -- Europe -- Périodiques; Comptabilité -- Pays de l'Union européenne -- Périodiques; 657.094
• DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2020.1770113
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-8180

Abstract

Abstract : An important activity of entrepreneurs is to justify the value of an innovation to gain support from stakeholders. We examine how entrepreneurs can develop an accounting methodology to demonstrate the value of a proposed innovation, focusing on the case of a charitable foundation's promotion of social enterprise and its efforts to develop the accounting methodology of Social Return on Investment (SROI). We show how the process for designing new accounting methods that helps in demonstrating the value of innovations involves entrepreneurs (1) imagining the expectations of their stakeholders (2) putting in place the necessary infrastructure through which numbers can be generated and (3) iteratively reconfiguring the accounting methodology and the espoused value the innovation is expected to generate. Our study furthers understanding of the role of accounting numbers in the entrepreneurial process, particularly in situations where entrepreneurs seek to generate new accounting methodologies to develop persuasive stories about the benefits of their innovations.