Accounting history has emerged as an academic discipline over the last 40 years within English speaking countries. There is now a critical mass of researchers, dedicated journals and conferences, and a significant body of literature that is increasing in scope and depth. This article examines the strategies that, ex post , can be seen as important in developing accounting history as a discipline. Three strategies are identified: (1) making accounting history relevant (to education, standard-setting, and organizational memory/identity), (2) making accounting history controversial (by identifying positive and negative exemplars, providing historical critiques of mainstream research, and encouraging methodological/ theoretical pluralism within accounting history), and (3) institutionalizing accounting history (by developing academic associations, journals and conferences, and embedding accounting history within a network of supporting organizations including universities, professional associations, libraries, research centers and publishers). The article concludes by identifying the weak points in the disciplinary project.
Abbott, A. (1988), The System of Professions, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
2.
Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC) (1990), Objectives of Education for Accountants, Sarasota: American Accounting Association.
3.
Agami, A.M. (ed.) (1988/1989 ), Biographies of Notable Accountants, New York: Random House.
4.
Allen, D.G. and McDermott, K. (1993), Accounting for Success: A History of Price Waterhouse in America, 1890-1990, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
5.
American Accounting Association (AAA) (1970 ), "Committee on Accounting History", The Accounting Review, Vol.45, Supplement, pp.52-64.
6.
Anderson, M. (2002), "An Analysis of the First Ten Volumes of Research in Accounting, Business & Financial History", Accounting, Business and Financial History, Vol.12, No.1, pp.1-24.
7.
Annisette, M. (2006), "People and Periods Untouched by Accounting History: An Ancient Yoruba Practice", Accounting History, Vol.11 No.4, pp.399-417.
8.
Beattie, V. and Davie, E. (2006), "Theoretical Studies of the Historical Development of the Accounting Discipline: A Review and Evidence", Accounting, Business and Financial History, Vol.16, No.1, pp.1-25.
9.
Beattie, V. and Goodacre, A. (2005), "A New Method for Ranking Academic Journals in Accounting and Finance", Working Paper, March. ( http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aah/BeattieMarch05AcctJnlRankings.pdf )
10.
Beecher, T. and Trowler, P.R. (1989/2001), Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Culture of Disciplines, Buckingham : Open University Press.
11.
Biehl, M., Kim, H. and Wade, M. (2006), "Relationships among the Academic Business Disciplines: A Multi-Method Citation Analysis", Omega, Vol.34, No.4, pp.359-71.
12.
Big-8 Accounting Firms (1989), " Perspectives on Education: Capabilities for Success in the Accounting Profession ", White Paper.
13.
Bricker, R. (1991), "Deriving Disciplinary Structures: Some New Methods, Models, and an Illustration with Accounting", Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol.42, No.1, pp.27-36.
14.
Brinn, T., Jones, M. and Pendlebury, M. (2001), "Why do UK Accounting and Finance Academics not Publish in Top US Journals?", The British Accounting Review , Vol.33, No.2, pp.223-32.
15.
Bryer, R.A. (1998), "The Struggle to Maturity in Writing the History of Accounting, and the Promise: Some Reflections on Keenan's Defence of `Traditional' Methodology", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.9, No.6, pp.669-81.
16.
Butterfield, H. (1965), The Whig Interpretation of History, New York: Norton.
17.
Camfferman, K. and Zeff, S.A. (2007), Financial Reporting and Global Capital Markets: A History of the International Accounting Standards Committee, 1973-2000, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
18.
Carey, J.L. (1969a), The Rise of the Accounting Profession: From Technician to Professional, 1896-1936, New York: AICPA.
19.
Carey, J.L. (1969b), The Rise of the Accounting Profession: To Responsibility and Authority, 1937-1969, New York: AICPA.
20.
Carmona, S. (2002), "Esteban Hernandez Esteve: An Appreciation", Accounting Business and Financial History, Vol.12, No.2, pp.187-202.
21.
Carmona, S. (2004), "Accounting History Research and its Diffusion in an International Context", Accounting History, Vol.9, No.3, pp.7-23.
22.
Carnegie, G.D. and Napier, C.J. (1996), "Critical and Interpretive Histories: Insights into Accounting's Present and Future Through its Past", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.9, No.3, pp.7-39.
23.
Carnegie, G.D. and Rodrigues, L.L. (2007) "Exploring the Dimensions of the International Accounting History Community", Accounting History, Vol.12, No.4, 441-64.
24.
Chandler, A.D., Jr (1977), The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
25.
Chatfield, M. and Vangermeersch, R. (eds) (1996), The History ofAccounting: An International Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Lipbrary of the Humanities), New York: Garland.
26.
Chatfield, M.A. and Vangermeersch, R. (eds.) (1996), The History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia, New York and London: Garland Publishing.
27.
Chow, C.W. (1983), "The Impacts of Accounting Regulation on Bondholder and Shareholder Wealth: The Case of the Securities Acts", The Accounting Review, Vol.58, No.3, pp.485-520.
28.
Coffman, E.N., Roberts, A.R. and Previts, G.J. (1989), "A History of the Academy of Accounting Historians: 1973-1988", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.16, No.2, pp.155-206.
29.
Coffman, E.N., Roberts, A.R. and Previts, G.J. (1998), "A History of the Academy of Accounting Historians: 1989-1998", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.25, No.2, pp.167-218.
30.
Collins, M. and Bloom, R. (1991), "The Role of Oral History in Accounting", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.4, No.4, pp.23-31.
31.
Cooper, C. and Puxty, A. (1996) "On the Proliferation of Accounting (His)tories ", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.7, No.3, pp.285-313.
32.
Cooper, K. and Keim, G. (1983), "The Economic Rationale for the Nature and Extent of Corporate Financial Disclosure Regulation: A Critical Assessment", Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol.2, No.3, Fall, pp.189-205.
33.
Demski, J. (2006), "Is Accounting an Academic Discipline?", Plenary Address, American Accounting Association, August 2006 .
34.
DiMaggio, P.J. and Powell, W.W. (1983), "The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields", American Sociological Review, Vol.48, No.2, pp.147-60.
35.
Edwards, J.R. (ed.) (2000), The History of Accounting, 4 vols, London: Routledge.
36.
Edwards, R. and Walker, S. (eds.) (2008), The Routledge Companion to Accounting History, London: Taylor and Francis.
37.
Ezzamel, M. and Hoskins, K. (2002), "Retheorizing Accounting, Writing and Money with Evidence from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.13, No.3, pp.333-67.
Fleischman, R.K., Mills, P.A. and Tyson, T.N. (1996), "A Theoretical Primer for Evaluating and Conducting Historical Research in Accounting", Accounting History, NS , Vol.1, No.1, pp.55-75.
40.
Fleischman, R.K., Radcliffe, V.S. and Shoemaker, P.A. (2003), Doing Accounting History: Contributions to the Development of Accounting Thought, Oxford: JAI.
41.
Fleischman, R.K. and Radcliffe, V.S. (2005), "The Roaring Nineties: Accounting History Comes of Age", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.32, No.1, pp.61-109.
42.
Fleischman, R.K. and Tyson, T.N. (1997), "Archival Researchers: An Endangered Species? ," Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.24, No.2, December, pp.91-109.
43.
Flesher, D.L. and Flesher, T.L. (1986), "Ivar Krueger's Contribution to U.S. Financial Reporting", Accounting Review, Vol.61, No.4, pp.21-34.
44.
Flesher, D.L. and Flesher, T.L. (2005), "A History of the Accounting, Behaviour and Organizations Section of the AAA", revised December 2005. ( http://aaahq.org/abo/Papers/ABOSection_history.pdf)
45.
Flesher, D.L., Miranti, P.J. and Previts, G.J. (1996), "The First Century of the CPA", Journal of Accountancy, October, pp.51-7.
46.
Fogarty, T. and Markarian, G. (2006), "An Empirical Assessment of the Rise and Fall of Accounting as an Academic Discipline", Working Paper, November. (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=975120 )
47.
Forrester, D. (1998), "European Congresses of Accounting: A Preliminary Review of their History". (http://accfinweb.account.strath.ac.uk/df/c6.html )
48.
Foucault, M. (1972), "The Discourse on Language", trans. Rupert Swyer, appendix to The Archaeology of Knowledge, New York: Pantheon.
49.
Funnell, W. (1996), "Preserving History in Accounting: Seeking Common Ground Between `New' and `Old' Accounting History", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.9, No.4, pp.38-64.
50.
Funnell, W. (1998), "The Narrative and its Place in the New Accounting History: The Rise of the Counternarrative", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.11, No.2, pp.142-62.
51.
Gaffikin, M.J.R. (1992), "Toward a Taxonomy of Historical Research Methods in Accounting", in Boys, P. and Freear, J. (eds.), Accounting History 1976-1986, New York: Garland , pp.22-62.
52.
Gaffikin, M.J.R. (1998), "History is Dead, Long Live History", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.9, No.6, pp. 631-9.
53.
Gendron, Y. and Baker, C.R. (2005), "On Interdisciplinary Movements: The Development of a Network of Support Around Foucaultian Perspectives in Accounting Research ", European Accounting Review, Vol.14, No.3, pp.525-69.
54.
Gieryn, T.F. (1983), "Boundary-work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists ", American Sociological Review, Vol.48, No.6, pp. 781-95.
55.
Givens, H.R. (ed.) (1987), Biographies of Notable Accountants, New York: Random House.
56.
Grant, J. (ed.) (1995), The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants: Foundation for a Profession, New York: Garland Publishing.
57.
Guthrie, J. and Parker, L. (2006), "Editorial: The Coming Out of Accounting Research Specialisms", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , Vol.19, No.1, pp.5-16.
58.
Guvemli, O. and Guvemli, B. (2006), "World Congresses of Accounting Historians, 1970-2006: An Evaluation", paper presented at the 12th World Congress of Accounting Historians, Nantes2006.
59.
Hammond, T. and Sikka, P. (1996), "Radicalizing Accounting History: The Potential of Oral History", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.9, No.3, pp.79-97.
60.
Hernandez-Esteve, E. (2006), "Recent Accounting History Research in Spain (2001-2005) ", paper presented at the Eleventh World Congress of Accounting Historians, Nantes, July 2006.
61.
Homburger, R.H. (1958), "Study of History-Gateway to Perspective", The Accounting Review, Vol.33, No.3, pp.501-3.
62.
Hopwood, A.G. (1987), "The Archaeology of Accounting Systems", Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.12, No.3, pp.207-34.
63.
Jones, D.G.B. and Richardson, A.J. (2007), "The Myth of the Marketing Revolution" Journal of Macromarketing, Vol.27, No.1, pp.15-24.
64.
Jones, E. (1981), Accountancy and the British Economy 1840-1980: The Evolution of Ernst and Whinney, London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.
65.
Johnson, H.T. (1975), "The Role of Accounting History in the Study of Modern Business Enterprise", The Accounting Review, Vol.50, No.3, pp.444-50.
66.
Johnson, H.T. and Kaplan, R.S. (1987), Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
67.
Kaplan, R.S. (1984), "The Evolution of Management Accounting", The Accounting Review, Vol.9, No.3, pp.390-418.
68.
Keenan, M.G. (1998a), "A Defence of `Traditional' Accounting History Research Methodology", Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Vol.9, No.6, pp.641-66.
69.
Keenan, M.G. (1998b), "Rhetoric, Obfuscation and Genealogies of Calculation: A Reply to My Critics", Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Vol.9, No.6, pp.713-19.
70.
King, T. (2006), More than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting , New York: Wiley.
71.
Kuhn, T.S. (1970), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
72.
Kurtz, R.D., Herrera, D.K. and Moussalli, S.D. (2006), "Digitizing the Accounting Historians Journal: A Short History", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.32, No.3, pp.157-68.
73.
Larson, M.S. (1977), The Rise of Professionalism, Berkeley, CA: University of Berkeley Press.
74.
Lauwers, D.L. and Willekens, M. (1994), "Five Hundred Years of Bookkeeping: A Portrait of Luca Pacioli", Tijdschrift voor Econornie en Management , Vol.39, No.3, pp.289-304.
75.
Lee, T. (1997), "The Editorial Gatekeepers of the Accounting Academy ", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.10, No.1, pp.11-30.
76.
Lehman, C.R. (1992), "`Herstory' in Accounting: The First Eighty Years ", Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.17, Nos.3-4, pp.261-85.
77.
Luchini, E. (1869), "Origini Storiche della Professione di Ragioniere ", Bullettino degli Atti, Vol.1, No.1. (http://pereco.lombardiastorica.it/index.php?page5testo&id51&ric51)
78.
MacDonald, L. and Richardson, A.J. (2002), "Alternative Perspectives on the Development of American Management Accounting: Relevance Lost induces a Renaissance", Journal of Accounting Literature, Vol.21, pp.120-56.
79.
McKeen, C.A. and Richardson, A. (1998), "Education, Employment and Certification: An Oral History of the Entry of Women into the Canadian Accounting Profession", Business and Economic History, Vol.27, No.2, pp.500-32.
80.
McMickle, P. and Vangermeersch, P. (1987), The Origins of a Great Profession: A Monograph to Accompany an Exhibition at Columbia University of Rare Accounting Books and Manuscripts from the Montgomery Collection. In Honor of the Centennial of the American Institute of CPAs, Academy of Accounting Historians
81.
Merino, B.D. (1998), "Critical Theory and Accounting History: Challenges and Opportunities", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.9, No.6, pp.603-16.
82.
Merino, B.D., Koch, B.S. and MacRitchie, K.L. (1987), "Historical Analysis: A Diagnostic Tool for `Events' Studies: The Impact of the Securities Act of 1933", The Accounting Review, Vol.62, No.4, pp.748-62.
83.
Merino, B.D. and Neimark, M.D. (1982), "Disclosure Regulation and Public Policy: A Sociohistorical Reappraisal", Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol.1, No.1, pp.33-55.
84.
Miller, P., Hopper, T. and Laughlin, R. (1991), "The New Accounting History: An Introduction", Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.16, Nos.5-6, pp.395-403.
85.
Miller, P. and O'Leary, T. (1987), "Accounting and the Construction of the Governable Person", Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.12, No.3, pp.235-66.
86.
Miranti, P.J. (1993), "Patterns of Analysis in Accounting History", Business and Economic History, Vol.22, No.1, pp.114-26.
87.
Myer, J.C. (1931), "Teaching the Accountant the History and Ethics of His Profession", The Accounting Review, Vol.6, No.1, pp.47-50.
88.
Napier, C.J. (1998), "Giving an Account of Accounting History: A Reply to Keenan", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.9, No.6, pp.685-700.
89.
Napier, C.J. (2006), "Accounts of Change: 30 Years of Historical Accounting Research", Accounting Organizations and Society, Vol.31, Nos.4-5, pp.445-507.
90.
Nelson, I.T. (1995), "What's New about Accounting Education Change?: An Historical Perspective of the Change Movement", Accounting Horizons, Vol.9, No.4, December, pp.62-75.
91.
Nevins, A. and Josephson, M. (1954), "Should American History Be Rewritten: A Debate Between Allan Nevins and Matthew Josephson", Saturday Review , 6 February, pp.7-9, 47-49.
92.
New York Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSCPA) (1954), "Committee on History: Is Accounting History Important? ", New York Certified Public Accountant, August, pp.511-15.
93.
Parker, L.D. and Graves, O.F. (eds.) (1989), Methodology and Method in History: A Bibliography, New York: Garland.
94.
Previts, G.J. (1974), "Hazy History: Fact and Folklore in Accounting ", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.1, No.2, pp.7-9.
95.
Previts, G.J. (2000), "Gobal Accounting History: Scholarship in the New Millennium", in Hernandez-Esteve, E. (ed.), Accounting and History, Madrid: Asociacion Espanola de Contabilidad y Administracion de Empresas , pp.9-22.
96.
Previts, G.J., Parker, L.D. and Coffman, E.N. (1990), "Accounting History: Definition and Relevance ", Abacus, Vol.26, No.1, pp.1-16.
97.
Previts, G.J. and Bricker, R.J. (1994), "Fact and Theory in Accounting History: Presentmindedness and Capital Market Research", Contemporary Accounting Research , Vol.10, No.2, pp.625-41.
98.
Previts, G.J. and Merino, B. (1979/1998), A History of Accountancy in the United States: The Cultural Significance of Accounting, Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.
99.
Reinstein, A. and Calderon, T.G. (2006), "Examining Accounting Departments' Rankings of the Quality of Accounting Journals", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.17, No.4, pp.457-90.
100.
Richardson, A.J. (1996), Research Methods in Accounting: Issues and Debates , Monograph No.25, Vancouver: Canadian Certified General Accountants' Research Foundation.
101.
Richardson, A.J. (1997), "Social Closure in Dynamic Markets: The Incomplete Professional Project in Accountancy", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.8, No.6, pp.635-53.
102.
Richardson, A.J. (2001), "Origins of the Canadian Academic Accounting Association ", in Boritz, E. (ed.), CAAA: 25 Years of Progress, CAAA: Toronto, pp.9-108.
103.
Richardson, A.J. and Kilfoyle, E. (2008), "Regulation", in Edwards, R. and Walker, S. (eds), The Routledge Companion to Accounting History, London: Taylor and Francis.
104.
Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1992), Before Writing, Austin: University of Texas Press.
105.
Schmandt-Besserat, D. (1996), How Writing Came About, Austin : University of Texas Press.
106.
Schwartz, B.N., Williams, S. and Williams, P.F. (2005), "US Doctoral Students' Familiarity with Accounting Journals: Insight into the Structure of the US Academy", Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol.16, No.3, pp.327-49.
107.
Shenkir, W.G. (1975), "Accounting History, the Accounting Historian, and the FASB", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.2, No.1, pp.22-5.
108.
Shumway, D.R. and Messer-Davidow, E. (1991), "Disciplinarity: An Introduction ", Poetics Today, Vol.2, No.2, pp.201-25.
109.
Singh, J.V., Tucker, D.J. and House, R.J. (1986), "Organizational Legitimacy and the Liability of Newness", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol.31, No.2, pp.171-93.
110.
Sivakumar, K.N. and Waymire, G. (1994), "Voluntary Interim Disclosure by Early 20th Century NYSE Industrials", Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol.10, No.2, pp.673-98.
111.
Skinner, R.S. (1987), Accounting Standards in Evolution, Toronto: HoltReinhartWinston.
112.
Slocum, E.L. and Sriram, R.S. (2001), "Accounting History: A Survey of Academic Interest in the U.S", Accounting Historians Journal, Vol.28, No.1, pp.111-30.
113.
Sombart, W. (1916/1969), Der moderne Kapitalismus: Historisch-systematische Darstellung des gesamteuropäischen Wirtschaftslebens von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. München und Leipzig : Duncker & Humblot.
114.
Stigler, G.J. (1951), "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market", Journal of Political Economy, Vol.59, No.3, pp.185-93.
115.
Sy, A. and Tinker, A. (2006), "Bury Pacioli in Africa: A Bookkeeper's Reification of Accountancy", Abacus, Vol.42, No.1, pp.105-27.
116.
Tinker, A. (1984), "Theories of the State and the State of Accounting: Economic Reductionism and Political Voluntarism in Accounting Regulation Theory ", Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Vol.3, No.1, pp. 55-74.
117.
Tinker, A. (2005), "The Withering of Criticism: A Review of Professional, Foucauldian, Ethnographic, and Epistemic Studies in Accounting", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol.18, No.1, pp.100-35.
Webster, N. (1945), "Accounting History", Journal of Accountancy, January, pp.79.
120.
Williams, B. and Wines, G. (2006), "The First 10 years of Accounting History as an International Refereed Journal: 1996-2005", Accounting History , Vol.11, No.4, pp.419-45.
121.
Williams, S.V. and Schwartz, B.N. (2002), "Accounting History in Undergraduate Introductory Financial Accounting Courses: An Exploratory Study", Journal of Education for Business, Vol.77, No.4, pp.198-202.
122.
Yamey, B. (1989), Art and Accounting, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
123.
Zan, L. (1994), "Toward a History of Accounting Histories: Perspectives from the Italian Tradition", The European Accounting Review , Vol.3, No.2, pp.255-307.
124.
Zeff, S.A. (1996), "A Study of Academic Research Journals in Accounting ", Accounting Horizons, Vol.10, No.3, pp.158-77.
125.
Zeff, S.A. (2003), "How the U.S. Accounting Profession Got Where It Is Today", Accounting Horizons, Vol.17, No.3 (Part 1), pp.189-205; Vol.17, No.4 (Part 2), pp.267-86.
