Boundary Objects: Technology in the Creative Construction of Electronic Business Reporting

Authors: Alan Lowe & Joanne Locke

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, 2012

Discussion by Niels Dechow

XBRL

• Idea: Make Accounting Information Digital & Interactive– NOT PDF– Information Tags enable Queries

• 1st Accounting taxonomy introduced in 1998– Not a global uniform taxonomy– National & Industry specific taxonomies

• The “SEC” mandated XBRL in late 2008

• Problem:Relationship between Standards and Residual Categories

- Extensible Business Reporting Language

Source: Lowe & Locke (2012): Boundary Objects: Technology in the Creative Constrution of Electronic Business Reporting – P.19

TRAX

• 2 Views on the XBRL classifications– Taxonomy View– Review Panel

• No IT specialist knowledge required– Access possible via Email & Internet

• Moderators & Discussants– Moderators part of a Review Group. – They organize discussions– Action assignment possible

- Software for Online Taxonomy Collaboration etc.

Source: Lowe & Locke (2012): Boundary Objects: Technology in the Creative Constrution of Electronic Business Reporting – P.21

Authors Agenda1. The focus of this paper is on aspects of the development of digital business reporting and actual

and potential changes in the regulatory environment…[or] why relatively pragmatic accounting approaches to the representation of business data may be changed dramatically as digital reporting and a culture of atomistic data analysis threatens to take precedence over accounting knowledge and conventional accounting statements

2. Our intention in this paper is to describe some of the opaque systems that have served as critical technologies in supporting groups of experts to communicate and build the necessary XBRL standard and interactive data technologies

3. The focus of the paper will be on what devices and/or technologies have been implicated in the “spread” of XBRL; which groups has constructed these technologies and the extent they have been picked up by others

4. In this paper we examine some of the more recent attempts to make the development of the technology more predictable and consider some of the likely effects of these developments.

• Our theorisation of the practices we have observed leads us to believe that boundary objects are far from benign technologies… In our description of the use of TRAX we emphasize the impact on work practices and the enabling of communication across boundaries. TRAX is not ineffective in this regard, but we harbour concerns for the ability of all groups of professionals to be heard effectively in a context where some have an advantage over others… Our concern is that IT people are likely to be overrepresented in what appear to be technical decisions about taxonomy development, but which nevertheless can

Discussion Points

• Main Focus ?– Communities of Practice (The Works of Online Collaborations)– Interprofessional Competition (“Accountants” vs “IT People”)– Reporting Practices (Intended / Unintended Developments)

• Boundary Objects– Definition– Use– Critique

• Case Construction– What about the double bind?– Which N-dimensionality ?– Technology (Infrastructure) Tailoring (Activities) Territorialization (Role)

Where to Next ?

Boundary Objects: Technology in the Creative Construction of Electronic Business Reporting

Boundary Work: Accounting,Electronic Business Reporting, and Creative Con- & Destruction