On the visual power of accounting numbers: the contributions of Husserl's phenomenology.

Summary In this article, we propose to analyze the "visual and classificatory power" of accounting numbers (Quattrone, 2009; Busco and Quattrone, 2015) by means of Husserl's phenomenology, based on the study of a case of corporate restructuring. In this way, we propose to investigate the ways in which accounting images and inscriptions manage to act at a distance on individuals, by mobilizing the dynamics of perception. Taking up the Husserlian concept of image consciousness, we characterize the perception of accounting inscriptions as the product of the interaction of a perceptive object (image thing), a representation (image object) and a more or less observable reality (image subject). We show the interest of opting for this level of analysis by studying how accounting images gradually succeeded in transforming a painful company liquidation into an industrial and financial success. Our study focuses on the longitudinal analysis of the restructuring of a large French company in the early 1980s. Through phenomenological analysis, we contribute to the work dedicated to the study of accounting inscriptions and the visual powers of accounting, by specifying how they act by mobilizing in a flexible, fragile and even sometimes involuntary way, the levers of perception to the point of subjugating the representations of individuals.