QRCA 2019: Qualitative Research and Critical Accounting (QRCA) 2019: A Latin American Conference Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Bogota, Colombia, October 28-November 1, 2019

Bogotá, Colombia.

Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Building 310.

Carrera 30 #45-03. Campus Universidad Nacional.

OBJECTIVES

One of the main objectives of the conference is to stimulate the production of Qualitative Research on Critical Accounting (QRCA) in the Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries of Latin America. In the long run, it is hoped that the conference will be seen as having played a role in expanding and consolidating the network of Latin American researchers committed to QRCA.

In particular, the conference organizers seek to encourage the development of QRCA “ambassadors”, who will be expected to play a significant role in promoting this type of research in their daily activities. As a result, the conference is targeted primarily at researchers who are committed to QRCA. 

The QRCA conference does not intend to provide magical recipes on how to engage with research and publish it in a reputable journal. That being said, it is realistic for participants to expect a number of potential benefits, among them:

• Raising participants’ awareness that they are not alone in doing qualitative research and that there is a growing community of QRCA researchers in Latin America. The conference may allow participants to extend their network of support. 
• Exposure to in-depth discussions surrounding evaluation criteria of interpretive and critical research. 
• Opportunities to present working papers in front of an audience made up of qualitative researchers, and to receive constructive feedback from this audience. 
• Involvement in discussions on challenges in publishing QRCA papers in international journals that are receptive to this kind of research.
• Involvement in discussions on how to make research in Latin American settings of interest to an international audience.

Note that the authors of the most promising papers may be invited, informally, to submit their work to Critical Perspectives on Accountingonce they have taken into account the comments received at the conference. 

• Open Lectures on QRCA.
• Graduate Students’ Seminar (PhD and Research-Master Students[1]): In this seminar, students will make a brief presentation of their QRCA research projects and receive comments from a panel of established researchers.
• QRCA Dedicated Panels:The panels aim to discuss, in a collegial atmosphere: a) the conduct of qualitative research, carried out from a critical or interpretive perspective; b) the publication process of this kind of research in international accounting journals; and c) research opportunities coherent with this research approach. People from the editorial team of Critical Perspectives on Accountingwill engage with these topics. Advice will also be provided on resources that people can use in order to improve their understanding of QRCA. 
• QRCA Full Paper Presentations: Authors of advanced working papers (near to completion) will present their work to a constructive and receptive audience. As a possible outcome, the authors of the most promising papers may be invited, informally, to submit their work to Critical Perspectives on Accountingonce they have taken into account the comments received during their presentation. 
• QRCA Research Forum: In the forum,authors of ongoing projects will discuss some preliminary results or major findings from their research and receive comments from the audience. 
• QRCA Editors Panel: we aim to invite Editors from journals in accounting and business administration, which support qualitative research, to be part of a panel and debate how to promote and disseminate further this perspective.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (The submission deadline is due).

The submission process will take place on https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=qrca2019. Authors need to register their data on this platform before submitting proposals.

Full Paper Presentations:Authors can submit papers up to 20.000 words (file in Microsoft Word format). Papers which are fairly advanced will be considered. PhD students whose thesis is near completion may also submit a full paper. 

Research Forum:Authors can submit working papers or summaries – up to 5.000 words (file in Microsoft Word format). For the forum, the conference organizers will expect to receive research projects that are not completed but that present a high degree of originality.

Graduate students’ seminar:Students can submit a 500-word summary of their thesis or dissertation proposal (file in Microsoft Word format), specifying at which stage is their PhD or Master (for how many years has the student been enrolled in the program). Graduate students (PhD and Research Master) whose thesis/dissertation is not near completion are welcomed to attend the Graduate students seminar – as long as their research interests are clearly positioned under qualitative, interpretive or critical approaches. 

Language for submissions:Note that given its international flavor, submissions to the QRCA Conference should ideally be written in English. Submissions written in Portuguese or Spanish are accepted although it should be emphasized that, if the paper is accepted, the slides that will be used during the presentation will have to be in English, in order to receive proper comments from all of the audience. Ideally, the language spoken during the conference will be English – although people not comfortable in using this language may present in Portuguese or Spanish. 

SOME RESEARCH TOPICS OF INTEREST TO THE 2019 QRCA 

• How corporate governance is sustained in a Latin American context – and the range of inequalities it engenders 
• Frontstage versus backstage surrounding social and environmental initiatives in Latin American organizations
• Emancipatory initiatives in the accounting and management area.
• How international organizations impact the realities of Latin American organizations.
• Organizations, as a context for human interaction.
• Difficulties ensuing from neoliberalization in Latin American countries, including in the public sector
• “Glocalization”as experienced in the offices of large accounting firms in Latin America.
• The role of accounting and auditing in fighting corruption: myth or reality?
• How accounting is involved in perpetuating class, gender, racial and ethnic inequalities.
• The role of accounting numbers in political debates: a masking or a revealing technology? 
• Critical accounting and management education: perpetuating or fighting against “business as usual”?
• Interpretive and critical research in accounting: where do we stand in Latin America?
• Indigenous or native Latin American accounting thinking: celebrating local knowledge.
• Possibilities for subaltern voices in accounting.
• Studies of accounting’s role, as a means of “remembering” the subject’s social and conflictual character.
• The role (and consequences) of sustainability accounting in promoting discourses and images consistent with the claim of corporate social responsibility.
• The relationship between accounting technologies and the state in different social contexts.
• Critical Management Studies in Latin America.
• Power, discourse, strategy in conglomerates or economic groups.
• Philosophical perspectives in accounting and management research methods.
• Relevance of historical perspective in critical accounting and management studies.
• Critical studies in taxation.
• Political economy of accounting and management.
• Investigating the spread of neoliberal teaching and the emancipatory potential of critical teaching –Teaching experiences in Latin America.

The QRCA 2019 conference is financially supported by the FCE-UNC research fund (Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia). Considering this support, authors and other participants will not be charged with additional fees to register for the conference activities.

Mary A. Vera-Colina.

Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.

Área Curricular de Contabilidad y Finanzas.

Carrera 30 #45-03 Edificio 311. Campus Universidad Nacional, Bogotá. Colombia.

Phone (voice): (+571) 3165000 Ext 12322.  Mobile (+57) 3002876609.

Web: http://www.fce.unal.edu.co/

Email:  qrca_fcebog@unal.edu.co - maaveraco@unal.edu.co

(please state in your email subject a reference to QRCA 2019).