ACCOUNTING AS DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION - THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS NO-106 AND THE DISMANTLING OF RETIREE HEALTH BENEFITS

This study explores reductions in benefits that occurred coincident wi th the passage of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 106 requi ring companies to accrue a liability for unfunded retiree health benef its. Congressional hearings and the business press reveal two competin g discursive constructions of the retiree health benefits crisis. The first portrayed them as moral obligations that firms were attempting t o avoid, the second as unexpected liabilities threatening corporations . Drawing on the work of Skocpol (1992), Weber (1949, 1978) and Burawo y (1983, 1985), we argue that characterizing these benefits primarily as accounting liabilities reinforced the second construction, facilita ting corporate efforts to roll back retiree health coverage. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.