Parallel accounts, parallel accountabilities: How translation challenges narrative reporting research

Abstract

Organisational accounts are often awarded considerable significance in societies, not least because of their proposed beneficial implications. However, we argue that in accounting research the narrative (non-financial) accounts, often given by organisations in more than one language, have been approached in a limited way. Drawing on foundational concepts from the discipline of Translation Studies, we demonstrate that accounts provided in different languages are not just one equivalent account copied across languages but in fact an ‘account multiple’ of several parallel accounts . Organisations (can) use such parallel accounts to address different audiences, simultaneously constructing different worlds where accountability does not remain the same. Alongside our theoretical discussion, we illustrate parallel accounts through an empirical analysis of the Finnish and English language account(s) a Finland-based MNC gave on its social responsibility. We argue that considering different language accounts as parallel accounts has significant implications for research on narrative reporting, including how scholars interpret organisational accounts, their use and potential implications, with consequences extending further into research transparency, ethics and quality.