Moving beyond the invisible: hidden cost accounting as a mediating device for organizational change in crisis-stricken small family-owned businesses

Purpose This study aims to examine how hidden cost calculations produced through the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) mediate organizational sensemaking and professionalization in a crisis-stricken small family-owned business. Design/methodology/approach An intervention-research design using the SEAM and its Qualimetrics protocol, based on a longitudinal case study of a Lebanese industrial small family-owned business. Findings Hidden cost calculations made informal dysfunctions visible, discussable and connectable to managerial routines, functioning as mediating accounting representations rather than mechanically triggering change. Post-intervention figures are interpreted as part of the intervention record, not as causal proof of effectiveness. Research limitations/implications As a single intervention-research case, the findings are analytically rather than statistically generalizable. The hidden cost figures are negotiated estimates produced within the intervention and are not read as independent causal measurements of performance improvement. Practical implications For owner-managers, hidden cost accounting may offer a route to professionalization by translating coordination delays, rework, skill gaps and idle time into financial terms, supporting prioritization without immediate bureaucratic expansion. Social implications By making internal sources of loss visible and discussable, hidden cost accounting may help crisis-stricken firms protect productive capacity and shift from reactive cost cutting toward organizational learning. Originality/value The study contributes to interpretive management accounting and organizational change literature by showing how a socio-economic intervention can produce calculative representations through which crisis-stricken small family-owned businesses reinterpret internal dysfunctions and negotiate professionalization.