ACCOUNTING IMAGES AND THE REALITY OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

DAVID GOTLOB AND DAVID A. DILTS

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DOI: 10.2190/JBDD-5WY1-XW9Q-5MMT

Abstract

Accounting information is often presented as an objective record of historical events by management in collective bargaining negotiations. However, this image of accounting may not be the most appropriate for resolving labor-management disputes in the public sector. The article identifies a continuum of images of accounting that may be held by unions in opposition to management's accounting-as-history image. Impasse will be most likely if unions viewe accounting as a means used by management to dominate and exploit employees. The negotiation process can be facilitated if management abandons the view of accounting as objective history and, in the process, convinces the union to move away from the view of accounting as dominance and exploitation.

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