Accounting and work in historical perspective

Abstract

The tenth Accounting History international conference (10AHIC) held in Paris in September 2019 on the theme of Accounting and Work was the last congress where the Accounting History community was able to meet in person, discuss their research in a ‘traditional’ mode which implied physical presence, and socialise — during a non-virtual, and memorable cruise on the Seine. Only a few months after the congress, the whole world was experiencing the unprecedented health crisis of SARS Covid-19, which was going to have a considerable and brutal impact on the way we operate, and on our lives. Moreover, our community was deeply affected by the loss of relatives, colleagues, and friends. In this special issue, we pay a humble tribute to one of them, our colleague Paul J. Miranti Jr., who promoted a unifying view of research traditions and paradigms, for the benefit of accounting history. This is a spirit that inspired us in presenting the contributions of our special issue. ‘Work’ was the theme of the congress, and it was about to become very topical in the context of the pandemic. Within public and private organisations around the world, the ways in which societies operate have been completely disrupted by the implementation of remote work, where the boundary between the professional and private sphere tend to disappear. New questions arise about the organisation of work, with focus on the question of work control, productivity, and the disintegration of social and informal ties. Probably never in the history of humanity has such a change in working methods been achieved so rapidly. Studying work in a historical context is therefore more useful than ever in bringing more light on contemporary phenomena. The selection of articles that we present here allows us to put into a historical perspective these evolutions, spanning various time periods and regions.