The Hidden Architecture of Value: A Critical Genealogy of Accounting Categories and Organizational Performativity

This paper critically interrogates the performative role of accounting categories—specifically depreciation, profit, and dividends—in the financialization of the firm. Movingbeyond the representation thesis, which views accounting as a mirror of economic reality,this study employs a Foucauldian genealogical approach combined with an InstitutionalLogics perspective to trace how valuation devices have shifted from instruments ofindustrial prudency to technologies of financial speculation. By deconstructing thehistorical and logical configuration of these categories, the analysis reveals a systemic"decoupling" between financial representation and operational capacity. The paperintroduces the "Hydraulic Model of Valuation", a theoretical framework illustrating howmodern Fair Value accounting injects "expectational air" into the balance sheet,legitimizing the extraction of liquid capital (dividends) based on unrealized gains. Thismechanism, we argue, constitutes a "technology of government" that inadvertently drivesorganizational des-capitalization, prioritizing short-term signaling over long-term industrialsurvival.