(Ac)counting in organisations: managers and non-financial information

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the tensions and contradictions between different perspectives (i.e., the functional and in-action) of the meaning and use of Non- Financial Performance Information (NFPI). Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on the previous literature to explore the issue of (Ac)counting based performance measurement systems and the understandings and practices in the concept NFPI. Findings The tensions and contradictions in NFPI can be understood in terms of the ‘collision’ between functional and in-action perspectives. The literature to date has been relatively silent on the importance of how managers use and contribute to NFPI. Many researchers have highlighted the importance of aligning NFPI to strategy and securing organisational objectives. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to how individual managers use, interpret, create and work with NFPI within organisational settings.