Accounting and the construction of the standard body

Abstract Early twenty first century Western society is commonly portrayed as a consumer society. Yet accounting research has to date neglected to explore the possible role of accounting technique in the intricate linkages between consumption, body size and individualism. This paper seeks to examine an accounting innovation introduced by early twentieth century department store management. The paper unravels the workings of garment alteration overhead allocations and the linkages between such accounting innovation and the creation of the statistical standard body size.

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