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An Example—The Salvation Army

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Accounting, Capitalism and the Revealed Religions

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Abstract

This chapter gives an example of research that has been undertaken on accounting and religion, taking account of the main critiques usually addressed to such research. The construction of an accounting spirituality and the practice of faith-based double-entry bookkeeping is revealed through the case of the Salvation Army. Though Christian, this case does not bring to light financial reporting in a certain congregation and does depart from mainstream Western theologies. Pursuant to its founder’s social project, the Salvation Army theology borrows from liberation theology and takes some of its structure from the Society of Jesus, whilst it claims its grounding in the Old Testament, the Jews’ Bible. Two types of account are brought to light: the balancing of Faith and Action on one hand and of Witness and Collection on the other.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The CAFDES is a mandatory degree to become the director of a social services home in France.

  2. 2.

    The present book does not address the quality management issue. Albeit, mentioning it sheds light on the transformation of the covenant into a contract, when soldiers are employees (full-time actions). The model of evaluation is then specific to their status.

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  1. Grenoble École de Management, Grenoble, France

    Vassili Joannidès de Lautour

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  1. Vassili Joannidès de Lautour
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de Lautour, V.J. (2017). An Example—The Salvation Army. In: Accounting, Capitalism and the Revealed Religions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32333-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32333-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32332-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-32333-6

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

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