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Accounting in the Limelight: Audit, Calculation and Governance in UK Television Yi Ling Ong Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2018 Declaration This is to certify that the work contained within has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed: Yi Ling Ong Abstract This thesis consists of three standalone empirical studies examining the operation and intertwining of accounting in the UK television industry. The first study examines the enrolment of auditing during a series of scandals involving the mishandling of premium rate services in UK television. Through a textual analysis of media coverage of the premium rate scandals, the study traces the mobilisation of an audit investigation commissioned by UK broadcaster ITV in the immediate aftermath of the press revelations. Using t’Hart’s (1993) framework of symbolic actions, the study illustrates that throughout key phases in the scandal process, ITV strategically used the audit investigation to control the official narrative of the scandals whilst protecting itself from further critical scrutiny. The study contributes to the literature on the role of auditing in crisis management, and how this role is implicated in the construction of organisational scandals and wrongdoing in domains other than financial accounting. The second study turns to the long-lasting consequences of the audit-based responses to the 2007 premium rate scandal. Through an in-depth field study of audience vote verification in the 2017 National Television Awards (NTA), the study explores how audit and assurance ideals are appropriated by agents outside the professional audit field to create a new infrastructure of trust. In doing so, the study draws on Giddens (1990, 1991) to argue that the NTA case can be understood as a mimetic adoption of the expert system of audit. It also elaborates on the implications of expert systems, showing that on the one hand, the dis-embedded nature of audit expertise facilitates its expansion into new domains. On the other hand, it could also result in audit expertise becoming more context dependent and thus more reliant on personal trust rather than systems trust. The third study examines how calculative practices are implicated in understanding and shaping television audiences and their viewing behaviour. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with UK television broadcasters, the study traces the interlinkages between recent Big Data-driven innovations in audience measurement and the desire by broadcasters to exercise control over an increasingly fragmented media audience. It focuses on the practices of enumeration, categorisation and calculation involved in producing knowledge of viewer behaviour, as well as the consumerist ethos underpinning such practices. The study’s empirical context of cultural consumption in the everyday private sphere lends itself to a relatively novel application of the governmentality thesis by Miller and Rose (1990). Taken together, the three studies in this thesis illustrate how issues of accounting are deeply implicated in the shaping of contemporary television. In so doing, they seek to further an understanding of accounting and the social. They also highlight the significant governance potential of media content and events, and the role of accounting therein. i Lay Summary Consisting of three studies, this thesis examines how accounting, in the form of auditing and calculations, is implicated in shaping television, a ubiquitous yet defining presence of everyday life. The first study examines an investigatory audit commissioned by a UK broadcaster mired in revelations of wrongdoing in television programmes involving viewer participation through premium rate services. It demonstrates how the audit was strategically drawn upon to manage and shape public perceptions of the premium rate scandals, which took place in 2007. Using a field study of the audit of audience voting in the 2017 National Television Awards, the second study explores how the ideas of auditing are appropriated and enacted by an assurance provider outside the professional audit field. It seeks to capture the diffusion of audit into the mainstream and its implications for audit practice. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with UK television broadcasters, the third study examines how calculative practices are implicated in understanding and shaping television audiences and their viewing behaviour. It highlights the interlinkages between recent data-driven innovations in audience measurement technologies and the growing consumerist ethos in television broadcasting. Together, the three studies illustrate the broader reach of accounting beyond its conventional domain of practice and how it is implicated in the shaping of everyday social and cultural life. ii Acknowledgements Over the course of researching and writing this thesis, I have accumulated formidable debts. Given the benevolence and generosity of my contributors, it is all but impossible to repay them in full. Nevertheless, I would like to take this opportunity to register my gratitude and appreciation to the individuals and organisations whose support made this thesis possible from conception to completion. Professor Ingrid Jeacle, my main supervisor: for inspiring me to do research, giving me the freedom to explore accounting at its margins, and being unwaveringly encouraging, patient supportive through it all even when I least deserved it. Thank you also to you and Chris for making Edinburgh a home away from home for me. I am truly lucky to have such a wonderful mentor and friend in you. Professor Stephen Walker, my second supervisor: for your wise counsel and critical eye on my writing. You inspire me to use my words with rigour and care. Professor Chris Carter: for opening important doors in television that I would not have ordinarily had access to and guiding me through them with skill, patience and good humour. Professor Clinton Free and Professor Christine Cooper: my examiners, for your kindness and patience in going through my thesis, and your insightful feedback on improving the individual thesis chapters. My research participants: for giving up your time and patiently humouring my questions. Your insights have brought this research to life. Special thanks are due to PromoVeritas and STV for facilitating generous access. This research would not have been at all possible without the financial support from the Centre of Accounting and Society at the University of Edinburgh Business School. I would like to further thank the Business School for supporting my participation in various conferences; they iii have been invaluable for my intellectual growth as a fledgling researcher. Special thanks are due to the Postgraduate Research Office for their ever helpful and friendly administrative support. My deepest gratitude is reserved for my family. All the way back in Malaysia, my parents have been steadfast in their support even as I stray further and further from the well-trodden path of accounting graduate to CFO that they have envisaged for me. My brother and sister have been exceptionally patient and loving even during most difficult of times. This thesis would not have been possible without their unconditional love and support. iv Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... i Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1. Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 1 2. Context and motivation ..................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Situating accounting in society .................................................................................................. 1 2.2 Accounting and the media: locating new interconnections with the everyday social ........ 5 3 Accounting and