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Mary Douglas, risk and accounting failures.

At a time when questions are raised about the causes of collapse of companies and the economies of different countries it has become increasingly important to use different frameworks so as to analyse and explain the current situation. Although not widely used in accounting, the work of Mary Douglas can help in making inroads into understanding what has happened in the past and why. The failure of accountants and auditors needs to result in altered behaviour in order to prevent similar problems happening in the future (which is the experience of the past). This article has led to further papers on Douglas in this journal suggesting that accounting can benefit from the study and application of cultural theory.