Accounting in the dynamic of discourses: The rise and fall of the Spanish system of intendants, 1718–1724

Abstract

Most accounting literature based on the Foucauldian frame has explained the role of accounting in the imposition of a governmental programme over a population, without considering the consequences in terms of resistance. This paper analyses the state power exerted over populations by means of accounting and also the role of accounting in cases of contestation and resistance towards the various agents of government. To this end, we have studied the enactment, implementation and fall of the Instrucción de Intendentes ( Instruction for Intendants) of 1718 in Spain, the roles of the different actors involved, and how accounting was used to defend these conceptions. The change in government by means of accounting is an example of what Foucault identified as the dynamic of discourses.