The paper is structured thus. Concepts of supervision
and the notion of an educative–administrative duality,
are discussed in the next section. The context in which
state projects for the rehabilitation of small farmers
emerged in the US, the nature of the resultant programmes
and the chronology of the agencies which implemented
them, are then outlined. The accounting prescriptions designed
to facilitate rehabilitation are subsequently analyzed
according to the educative (progressive) and
administrative (repressive) functions of supervision. Evidence
relating to the emancipatory impacts of accounting
is then discussed on two dimensions. The first relates to
the macro-level of the objectified population and the use
of accounting data by the state to assess rehabilitative outcomes.
The second focuses on the rehabilitative effects of
supervised accounting at the micro-level of the individual
subject. The implications of the study are discussed in
the conclusion.