ABSTRACT
We shall begin by tracing the origin of an idea that became prominent in the last half of twentieth century and which some apologists for the status quo still advocate, namely, the idea that ‘better’ accountability and management entails making professional practices as explicit as possible for audit accounting, monitoring, and training purposes: ‘Not only are duties specifi ed, but the means of evaluating the level of their performance is already prescribed, in . . . standards and targets of performance’ (Hoskin 1996: 265).
