The Bilateral Relationship between Accounting History and Business History: A French Perspective1

Abstract

This is a plea for a warm and close relationship between business history and accounting history. On the one hand I wish to argue that business history is not a luxury merely for accounting historians, but a necessity; on the other hand I wish to argue that business historians will benefit from closer contacts with the work and researches of accounting historians. These bilateral relationships are seen in this paper from a French viewpoint, that is from that of a group of scholars, both business historians and accounting historians, comprising roughly 70 people, dispersed throughout departments of history and departments of management in universities or business schools or engineering schools, who have learnt to work together through a journal, Entreprises et Histoire, through annual national conferences and through direct personal relationships. I wish to make my case in three parts: the first part will provide an overview of some major aspects of business history; the second part will consider what I see as some important aspects of accounting history for business historians; and, in the last part, I will pose some questions inspired mainly by the French case.