Accounting and the construction of the retired person
This paper seeks to describe the constitutive role played by accounting in the social safety
net for the elderly, and its effects on the individual preparing for retirement. The paper documents
the effects of accounting on life-long behaviours, through the objectivization of the
individual as a worker, saver, and pensioner. It shows how accounting has, by capturing
measures of individual earnings, by enlisting the individual in the preparation of tax
returns, and by reflecting back to the individual various accumulations of lifetime savings,
attempted to transform that individual not just into a saver who can continue to consume
long after ceasing to produce, but into an investor whose interests are aligned with the
financial markets. The focus of the paper is the Canadian retirement income system. Starting
with an early attempt at retirement income protection, the 1908 government annuities
program, the paper develops a genealogy of Canada’s present comprehensive retirement
income system. By examining the succession and accumulation of retirement income programs
introduced since 1908, the study shows how accounting has functioned as a dividing
practice, separating citizens into categories wherein they can be subjected to particular
programs. The paper suggests that the accounting technologies used in constructing the
Canadian system have fallen short as tools for governing retirement and retirement savings,
largely due to their inadequacy as technologies of the self. The paper is of particular
relevance to accounting scholars because the aging population in many countries is putting
tremendous pressure on retirement income programs. The paper helps us to understanding
the role of accounting in shaping political policy on the aged and in preparing citizens for
old age.