Between a corporatist past and a globalised future: Argentina's accounting profession and the social balance sheet

Sustainability has become a global trend to which Argentina is no stranger. This trend is materialised, among other things, in the surge of the social balance sheet (SBS). In this article, based on the theory of the “system of professions” developed by Abbott (1988), we will try to understand how the Argentinean accounting profession has tried to extend its jurisdiction to the preparation and verification of social balance sheets. We will see how, despite its intellectual, academic and political actions, the Argentinean accounting profession has not succeeded in expanding its jurisdiction to the SBS. Thus, attempts to legislate the preparation and verification of the SBS have not always been successful. Although many Argentinean firms prepare an SBS, very few use the SBS model proposed by this profession or have their SBS verified by accountants.

The background of our analysis is the evolution of the power structure in Argentina, illustrating the tension between a profession originally organised in a corporatist way, which was inherited from a former economic model, and the new global trends, which are linked to the expansion of financial markets and the rise of sustainability. This structural change creates difficulties for the profession that will ultimately impede its expansionist purpose. We use this case to illustrate certain limitations of the Abbottian approach when it is applied to a context outside the Anglo-Saxon world.