The ‘situated functionality’ of accounting in private equity practices: A social ‘site’ analysis

• We explore the ‘situated functionality’ of accounting in private equity practices.
• Accounting exists both as a ‘dispersed’ and ‘integrative’ practice in the PE ‘site’.
• The dispersed nature of accounting ‘prefigures’ its ‘situated functionality’.
• We problematize and clarify Schatzki's ‘general understandings’.
• ‘General understandings’ and ‘teleoaffective structures’ are mutually constitutive.

This paper contributes to the recent ‘practice turn’ in management accounting literature in two ways: (1) by investigating the meshing and consequently the ‘situated functionality’ of accounting in various private equity (PE) practices, and (2) by experimenting with the application of Schatzki's ‘site’ ontology. By identifying and describing the role and nature of accounting and associated calculative practices in different parts of the PE value chain, we note that the ‘situated functionality’ of accounting is ‘prefigured’ by its ‘dispersed’ nature. A particular contribution of experimenting with Schatzki's ‘site’ ontology has been to identify theoretical concerns in relation to the meaning and role of the concept ‘general understandings’ and to clarify the definitional issues surrounding this concept. We also identify the close relationship between ‘general understandings’ and ‘teleoaffective structure’ and note their mutually constitutive nature.