ACCOUNTING IMAGES AND THE REALITY OF COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING

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