AKUNTANSI SEBAGAI BAHASA KEHIDUPAN SEHARI-HARI: STUDI MULTIPARADIGMA PADA PRAKTIK KEUANGAN RUMAH TANGGA

Abstract

Accounting is often perceived as a discipline closely associated with business and
formal organizations. However, in everyday life—particularly within households—
accounting has long been practiced in simple forms such as recording income and
expenses, budgeting, and making routine financial decisions. This study aims to
examine and conceptualize household accounting as a language of everyday life
using a multiparadigmatic approach. A qualitative research method was employed,
involving in-depth interviews with household actors and supported by a review of
recent literature. The findings indicate that household accounting practices function
not only as technical tools for financial management but also as media for
communication, value transmission, and collective decision-making within families.
From a multiparadigmatic perspective, household accounting can be understood in
various ways: as a rational instrument (positivist), a meaningful social practice
(interpretive), an arena of power relations and emancipation (critical), a plural and
performative representation of reality (postmodern), and a medium for ethical and
religious reflection (spiritual). Within the Indonesian cultural and religious context,
household accounting integrates economic rationality with family values and moral
principles. This study highlights that accounting is not merely a calculative
technique, but a living language embedded in everyday family life.