Accounting for the Salvation Army: a Narrative Approach
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ACCOUNTING FOR THE SALVATION ARMY: A NARRATIVE APPROACH A Thesis Submitted In Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Peter Warwick Humphreys School of Business Western Sydney University, Australia August 2015 Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Peter Warwick Humphreys August 2015 Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Professor Garry Tibbits and Associate Professor Anne Abraham for the continuous support of my doctoral study and research, for their patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Their guidance and patience in dealing with this particularly difficult student is gratefully acknowledged. I especially acknowledge the effort of Professor Tibbits who has been with me from the very beginning, his guidance, his challenges and support in all manner of difficulties is most gratefully thanked. I wish to acknowledge Dr Colleen Puttee and Dr Sudhir Lodhr who were with me at the commencement of the journey. Each of my supervisors brought their own unique skill and understanding and experience as they guided me through the research process. To the examiners of my thesis, I thank you most sincerely for your time and effort to review my thesis and thank you for your feedback. Last but by no means least; I would like to thank my beautiful and wonderful wife Xiaoying. You have had to put up with a tired, grumpy and irritable husband in the first year of our marriage. Your patience, presence, love and support have been invaluable. 我爱你小英,我珍贵的珍珠 Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my late grandfather, Major Arthur Humphreys, a man of gentle spirit and humility. He taught me about the beauty found in music and song. Grandfather was a traditional Salvationist who practised his beliefs until his death. He knew what being a Salvationist meant and had no doubt in his mind that he was serving his Lord and was proud to wear his uniform as an officer in The Salvation Army. Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach ABSTRACT In 2015 The Salvation Army will celebrate 150 years of service to the community. The organisation which today has spread throughout the world traces its origins to the work of William and Catherine Booth, itinerant evangelists in Victorian England. Originally called the Christian Mission, the focus was on Christian evangelism, personal salvation for the individual based on the belief of the time that the spiritual change of an individual was the way to improve their position in society. By the 1880s William Booth realised religious attention was more likely when individuals were not economically and physically challenged, and assisting them in a practical way was demonstration of the Christian values. The rise of social service activity initially came about through the actions of individual Salvation Army members and ultimately by the official endorsement by the organisation of a separate social service arm. In the 1890s the social service of The Salvation Army was set up via its own unique trust deed. The rationale for the separation between the evangelical and social operations was to allow people to direct their support to the preferred area of activity being undertaken. The people who The Salvation Army served were often the least able to provide the financial support for the organisation. William Booth needed to make constant calls for money; this placed him into conflict with many sections of Victorian England. Financial accountability and integrity were at the forefront of both the criticism and the defence of the organisation. The use of financial reporting, annual reports and other narratives has been a constant feature of the organisation since its inception. In the current period The Salvation Army is generally recognized by the public as primarily a social service organization. This view is at odds with how the leadership of the organisation sees the organisation, namely as a part of the Christian church with a single mission expressed in the dual form of spiritual and social services. This potential identity mismatch forms an important component of this thesis. In particular the thesis draws on information from United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to examine how the organisation has grappled with its identity problem and the way this has been reflected in its diverse approaches to accountability. Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach The research question looks at the identity of The Salvation Army as it is constructed through its narrative accountability. In the 1890s the dominant identity was the spiritual side of The Salvation Army and funds in the spiritual side subsidised the then newly formed social side. Post World War I the social side began to become the dominant funds source for the organisation. In the current period the financial flow is heavily dominated by the social service component of The Salvation Army activities. Drawing from the work of the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, a hermeneutic analysis of The Salvation Army is undertaken. By locating the formation of The Salvation Army within part of its historical context a ‘sense’ is developed as to how the organisation and its founder William Booth responded to its historical position and the rationale for setting the dual organisational structure. Documents produced by the organisation across a number of countries and in the public domain were accessed and analysed. Following Ricoeur the many narratives identified within these documents were reconfigured to recreate the description of The Salvation Army from a narrative accountability perspective. The stated forms of accountability are reflected in the context of the annual reports and how they approach fiscal compliance requirements. However the forms of accountability used by The Salvation Army have been contested since the 1890s. The outcome of this study shows how the organisation manages to cultivate an image of a social work dominated organisation. Any conflicts in identity and accountability are carefully minimised by the overwhelming success of the social service narrative. However internal narratives of The Salvation Army claim a holistic response to meeting its obligations by the dual mission of spiritual and social. The application of the narrative accountability as demonstrated through Ricoeur’s work allows for any organisation to have its identity validated through the use of a hermeneutic analysis. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion of organisational identity and accountability. Key words: The Salvation Army, Accounting, Accountability, Narrative, Identity, Ricoeur Accounting for The Salvation Army: A Narrative Approach Contents Contents ................................................................................................................... i 1.0 Tables ......................................................................................................... vi 1.1 Figures ........................................................................................................ vi 1.2 List of Abbreviations .................................................................................. vi 1.3 Key Internet Sites Used in the Research ................................................... vii 1.4 Key Terms ................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 1.0 Overview ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Accounting and Religion ............................................................................. 2 1.1.1 The Salvation Army - who are you? .................................................... 2 1.1.2 Acknowledgement of my possible biases ............................................ 7 1.2 Motivation for the Research ........................................................................ 7 1.3 Research Questions: .................................................................................... 9 1.4 Why use Ricoeur? ....................................................................................... 9 1.5 Data Used in the Study .............................................................................. 10 1.6 Data Analysis Methods ............................................................................. 11 1.7 Significance of this study .......................................................................... 13 1.8 The structure of the thesis ......................................................................... 13 1.8.1 Next Chapter ...................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2 The historical context of The Salvation Army ............................... 16 2.0 Introduction ..............................................................................................