Football club accounting and the emancipation of supporters

Purpose
To provide insight into the views of football supporters' representatives on the accountability of their clubs, whether extant reporting practices are fit for purpose and what potential improvements are desired. Utilising the lens of emancipatory and dialogic accounting we advocate for accountability-based accounting within professional football.

Design/methodology/approach
PAR methodology was followed to understand the desires and needs of supporters' accountability. This involved interviews and focus groups with supporters' representatives and experts at club and national level.

Findings
Supporters' accountability needs are based on the specific relationship with their club and distinct nature of the industry. Extant practice does not meet supporters' needs as it is too focused on neoliberal assumptions, providing information related to the needs of capital providers rather than the social needs of supporter stakeholders. Emancipatory and dialogic approaches should be enacted at the league level to meet supporters' accountability needs.

Research limitations/implications
The significant public interest in professional football, coupled with passionate stakeholder relationships, provides a novel context within which to explore the application of emancipatory accounting.

Practical implications
This study provides guidance to professional football clubs on how best to provide authentic accountability to supporters and the mutual benefits of doing so. Our findings have implications for other organisations where stakeholder relationships are not solely defined by financial considerations.

Originality/value
This is the first study to empirically investigate supporters' opinions on the reporting and accountability provided by professional clubs. It suggests improvements to reporting praxis to better meet the requirements of supporters and ameliorate power differentials.