More than just numbers: Exploring the transformative role of accounting practices in the Black Sea Grain Initiative for mitigating human-made crises

This article underscores that accounting is vital in (re)shaping, transforming, and facilitating compromise and negotiation during human-made crises. Compromises are shown to be transactional, finely calibrated and ad hoc. The authors emphasize the potential of accounting practices to create new avenues for negotiation between diverse transnational actors in times of crisis by fostering increased awareness, recognition and visibility. Accounting's generic aims include direction, scorekeeping, and problem-solving, which have the potential to be utilized as useful tools during crises in creating temporary opportunities to establish a platform for compromises and negotiations between parties at war. This highlights the role of accounting in redirecting interests, attention, and visibility toward negotiations during a conflict, thereby carrying the potential to establish a foundation for peacebuilding. This aligns with the mediatory role of accounting, which is demonstrated by the Black Sea Grain Initiative case, where accounting was an important tool for intergovernmental communication.