Pub Date : 2024-03-15DOI: 10.1177/10323732241236974
Daniel Tinkelman
This article supplements the multidisciplinary effort sparked by the New York Times's 1619 Project to focus attention on institutions and practices that supported American slavery. Managerial and financial accounting practices support many types of endeavours. Accounting is usually done for managers, investors, and creditors. Accounting practices supported investment in, and management of slavery, a fundamentally immoral and destructive practice. Accounting served the interests of the enslavers, not the enslaved. Accounting practices helped investors in slave voyages and absentee plantation owners overcome agency problems, facilitating investment. Plantations used accounting to track enslaved people's productivity. Accounting terms and reports dehumanised enslaved men and women, classifying them as assets and as loan collateral. Accounting forms and statements treated slave ownership and the use of slave labour as routine. In these ways, accounting statements helped normalise and legitimise the practice of slavery and helped distance investors and lenders from its brutal reality.
{"title":"‘Money does not stink’ – Accounting and slavery","authors":"Daniel Tinkelman","doi":"10.1177/10323732241236974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732241236974","url":null,"abstract":"This article supplements the multidisciplinary effort sparked by the New York Times's 1619 Project to focus attention on institutions and practices that supported American slavery. Managerial and financial accounting practices support many types of endeavours. Accounting is usually done for managers, investors, and creditors. Accounting practices supported investment in, and management of slavery, a fundamentally immoral and destructive practice. Accounting served the interests of the enslavers, not the enslaved. Accounting practices helped investors in slave voyages and absentee plantation owners overcome agency problems, facilitating investment. Plantations used accounting to track enslaved people's productivity. Accounting terms and reports dehumanised enslaved men and women, classifying them as assets and as loan collateral. Accounting forms and statements treated slave ownership and the use of slave labour as routine. In these ways, accounting statements helped normalise and legitimise the practice of slavery and helped distance investors and lenders from its brutal reality.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"147 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140154239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article addresses the role played by accounting in the government of the Italian colonies of Africa during the Liberal and Fascist periods. Drawing upon the work of Foucault, Scott and Said and their understandings of governmentality and colonialism, and using a wide range of primary sources, the article contributes to the accounting history literature by showing how calculative practices in the form of colonial budgets and regular censuses of the population helped the Italian government to control activities in its colonies. The article shows how accounting practices evolved under different political regimes in the achievement of different programmes of government. It also offers evidence of the ways in which accounting can be mobilised to enable penetrating interventions in the lives of indigenous populations.
{"title":"Accounting for colonial domination in Liberal and Fascist Italy, 1912–1941","authors":"Valerio Antonelli, Michele Bigoni, Raffaele D’Alessio, Warwick Funnell","doi":"10.1177/10323732241237792","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732241237792","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the role played by accounting in the government of the Italian colonies of Africa during the Liberal and Fascist periods. Drawing upon the work of Foucault, Scott and Said and their understandings of governmentality and colonialism, and using a wide range of primary sources, the article contributes to the accounting history literature by showing how calculative practices in the form of colonial budgets and regular censuses of the population helped the Italian government to control activities in its colonies. The article shows how accounting practices evolved under different political regimes in the achievement of different programmes of government. It also offers evidence of the ways in which accounting can be mobilised to enable penetrating interventions in the lives of indigenous populations.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"122 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140154117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-21DOI: 10.1177/10323732241230348
Lee D Parker, James Guthrie, Ann Martin-Sardesai
This article aims to provide a historical perspective of neoliberalism and new public management practices in the Australian higher education system from the early 1980s to contemporary times. Drawing on historical and contemporary data sets and research articles, it evaluates historical changes in control systems and metrics applied to university teaching and research. From an audit culture framework, it examines the emerging rationales driving financially focused university governance. Organisational and individual audits of performance have become standard practice, couched in the conventional language of transparency, performance and accountability. Accounting-based performance measurement, control and audit are found to dominate university operations, fostering mass delivery of education, research outputs and knowledge commercialisation. Neoliberal performance management is shown to have dramatically altered accounting models and changed internal power relations, transforming university identities and roles into a commercialised corporate model pursuing a self-interested financial bottom line aided by a private sector performance control orientation.
{"title":"Performance management in the Australian higher education system – A historically informed critique","authors":"Lee D Parker, James Guthrie, Ann Martin-Sardesai","doi":"10.1177/10323732241230348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732241230348","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to provide a historical perspective of neoliberalism and new public management practices in the Australian higher education system from the early 1980s to contemporary times. Drawing on historical and contemporary data sets and research articles, it evaluates historical changes in control systems and metrics applied to university teaching and research. From an audit culture framework, it examines the emerging rationales driving financially focused university governance. Organisational and individual audits of performance have become standard practice, couched in the conventional language of transparency, performance and accountability. Accounting-based performance measurement, control and audit are found to dominate university operations, fostering mass delivery of education, research outputs and knowledge commercialisation. Neoliberal performance management is shown to have dramatically altered accounting models and changed internal power relations, transforming university identities and roles into a commercialised corporate model pursuing a self-interested financial bottom line aided by a private sector performance control orientation.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139949556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-20DOI: 10.1177/10323732231221292
Tiziana Di Cimbrini, Alessio Maria Musella, Giovanni Fosco
This study compares the healthcare management systems for cholera epidemics in Italy before and after the Crispi-Pagliani Health Reform of 1888. Specifically, we compare the monitoring, accounting, and reporting systems of deaths and infections during the 1884 and 1893 epidemics. Based on an econometric analysis of data from the Italian National Statistical Institute, we demonstrate that the post-reform system was more effective in reducing deaths by optimising medical personnel allocation in areas with higher epidemic intensity. From a Foucauldian perspective, we provide insights into the role of accounting in supporting noso-politics, bio-politics, and bio-power. Further, this study advances our understanding of reporting systems and the dynamics that governments trigger as part of strategies for preventing or containing contagion during epidemics. Finally, this study supports the use of econometrics in accounting history.
{"title":"How does accounting save lives? An econometric analysis exploring the effectiveness of the Crispi-Pagliani Health Reform (1888) in Italy","authors":"Tiziana Di Cimbrini, Alessio Maria Musella, Giovanni Fosco","doi":"10.1177/10323732231221292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231221292","url":null,"abstract":"This study compares the healthcare management systems for cholera epidemics in Italy before and after the Crispi-Pagliani Health Reform of 1888. Specifically, we compare the monitoring, accounting, and reporting systems of deaths and infections during the 1884 and 1893 epidemics. Based on an econometric analysis of data from the Italian National Statistical Institute, we demonstrate that the post-reform system was more effective in reducing deaths by optimising medical personnel allocation in areas with higher epidemic intensity. From a Foucauldian perspective, we provide insights into the role of accounting in supporting noso-politics, bio-politics, and bio-power. Further, this study advances our understanding of reporting systems and the dynamics that governments trigger as part of strategies for preventing or containing contagion during epidemics. Finally, this study supports the use of econometrics in accounting history.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"176 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139949532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-09DOI: 10.1177/10323732231221596
Lee Moerman, Sandra van der Laan
The advent of World War I in Britain saw a politicisation of profit, heightened by pre-existing labour unrest, State intervention, industrial disruption and claims of profiteering. During this time, the prominent industrialist Sir Samuel Turner III (1878–1955) published two books on the role of business, and particularly profits, in society. As an example of contemporary media, we use these books to highlight how Turner conceptualised profits as representative of Britain's path to post-war success – a transition from darkness into light. We adopt narrative historiography and the genre of comedy to provide a framework for analysis. In doing so, we demonstrate how profit becomes a totalising and taken-for-granted concept representing both economic and social progress.
{"title":"Chaos and comedy: The narrative of Samuel Turner III","authors":"Lee Moerman, Sandra van der Laan","doi":"10.1177/10323732231221596","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231221596","url":null,"abstract":"The advent of World War I in Britain saw a politicisation of profit, heightened by pre-existing labour unrest, State intervention, industrial disruption and claims of profiteering. During this time, the prominent industrialist Sir Samuel Turner III (1878–1955) published two books on the role of business, and particularly profits, in society. As an example of contemporary media, we use these books to highlight how Turner conceptualised profits as representative of Britain's path to post-war success – a transition from darkness into light. We adopt narrative historiography and the genre of comedy to provide a framework for analysis. In doing so, we demonstrate how profit becomes a totalising and taken-for-granted concept representing both economic and social progress.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"47 52","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139442510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-25DOI: 10.1177/10323732231214038
Fabio De Matteis, Alessandra Tafuro, Giuseppe Dammacco
The historical literature appears limited in investigating the accountability and functioning of hybrid organisations engaged in countering natural disasters. Therefore, in the context of the phylloxera infestation disaster, this work aims to explore both the informative value and characters of some accountability documents and the role of anti-phylloxera consortia (public-private entities) during the response and recovery phases of the disaster. We apply content analysis through a thematic approach to two reports dating back to 1911 and 1912–1914, respectively, on the action of the anti-phylloxera consortia. On the one hand, this analysis highlights that the documents investigated have a relevant informative capacity, supporting knowledge dissemination and coordinated action. On the other hand, they account for the success of experimental vineyards in terms of agricultural parameters and re-gained productivity, but they do not present accounting data. Finally, the reports analysed show that public-private collaboration enacted by the consortia can be an effective tool for dealing with natural disasters and reducing their impact.
{"title":"Disaster accountability for the response/recovery stage and the role of hybrid organisations: The case of the anti-phylloxera consortia's reports","authors":"Fabio De Matteis, Alessandra Tafuro, Giuseppe Dammacco","doi":"10.1177/10323732231214038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231214038","url":null,"abstract":"The historical literature appears limited in investigating the accountability and functioning of hybrid organisations engaged in countering natural disasters. Therefore, in the context of the phylloxera infestation disaster, this work aims to explore both the informative value and characters of some accountability documents and the role of anti-phylloxera consortia (public-private entities) during the response and recovery phases of the disaster. We apply content analysis through a thematic approach to two reports dating back to 1911 and 1912–1914, respectively, on the action of the anti-phylloxera consortia. On the one hand, this analysis highlights that the documents investigated have a relevant informative capacity, supporting knowledge dissemination and coordinated action. On the other hand, they account for the success of experimental vineyards in terms of agricultural parameters and re-gained productivity, but they do not present accounting data. Finally, the reports analysed show that public-private collaboration enacted by the consortia can be an effective tool for dealing with natural disasters and reducing their impact.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"11 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139158589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-29DOI: 10.1177/10323732231205357
A. Rangone, Liliana Ionescu-Feleagă, Mariana Bunea, Massimo Sargiacomo
This article seeks to portray Grigore Trancu-Iasi (1874–1940) as a versatile figure in academic, professional and political fields. It shows the fundamental role played by Trancu-Iasi as a key actor in the evolution of accounting theory, practice and profession in Romania in the context of accounting knowledge transfer from the different Italian schools of thought to Romania. The analysis highlights not only his contribution to the dissemination of doctrines on bankruptcy, double-entry bookkeeping and the functioning of the azienda (firm) but also his pivotal role in the synthesis of the various Italian schools of thought, which were conflicting at the time. Trancu-Iasi translated and adapted bankruptcy studies carried out by Italian scholars from different schools of thought. For instance, he referred to the study of the logismographic method Tuscan School and the subsequent asset-centred accounting system promoted by the Venetian School, and the studies on the azienda presented by different Italian schools. Therefore, in this article, Trancu-Iasi emerges as an outstanding interpreter of the new trends in Italian accounting theory and of the needs of an entire professional group in Romania.
{"title":"The contribution of Grigore L. Trancu-Iasi to the evolution of accounting theory, practice and profession in Romania","authors":"A. Rangone, Liliana Ionescu-Feleagă, Mariana Bunea, Massimo Sargiacomo","doi":"10.1177/10323732231205357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231205357","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to portray Grigore Trancu-Iasi (1874–1940) as a versatile figure in academic, professional and political fields. It shows the fundamental role played by Trancu-Iasi as a key actor in the evolution of accounting theory, practice and profession in Romania in the context of accounting knowledge transfer from the different Italian schools of thought to Romania. The analysis highlights not only his contribution to the dissemination of doctrines on bankruptcy, double-entry bookkeeping and the functioning of the azienda (firm) but also his pivotal role in the synthesis of the various Italian schools of thought, which were conflicting at the time. Trancu-Iasi translated and adapted bankruptcy studies carried out by Italian scholars from different schools of thought. For instance, he referred to the study of the logismographic method Tuscan School and the subsequent asset-centred accounting system promoted by the Venetian School, and the studies on the azienda presented by different Italian schools. Therefore, in this article, Trancu-Iasi emerges as an outstanding interpreter of the new trends in Italian accounting theory and of the needs of an entire professional group in Romania.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139209528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-13DOI: 10.1177/10323732231205928
Katharina Rahnert
The objective of this article is to describe instances of charity accounting relating to a natural disaster in Sweden and to analyse the relationship between charity accounting and dimensions of moral conception prevailing in Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on accounts of the Stockholm Relief Committee for Norrland, a temporary charity organisation established during the Swedish Famine of 1867–1869, the study shows that moral conceptions affected not only the distribution of relief but also what was accounted for. There are also indications that accounting was used to enhance the morality of the propertied class to act in the interest of those in need. In this way, the broader social implications of accounting history are considered, and previous conceptions of accounting as a one-sided technology exclusively favouring propertied interests and enhancing the morality of the poor are challenged.
{"title":"Enhancing morality through charity accounting during the Swedish famine of 1867–1869","authors":"Katharina Rahnert","doi":"10.1177/10323732231205928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231205928","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this article is to describe instances of charity accounting relating to a natural disaster in Sweden and to analyse the relationship between charity accounting and dimensions of moral conception prevailing in Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on accounts of the Stockholm Relief Committee for Norrland, a temporary charity organisation established during the Swedish Famine of 1867–1869, the study shows that moral conceptions affected not only the distribution of relief but also what was accounted for. There are also indications that accounting was used to enhance the morality of the propertied class to act in the interest of those in need. In this way, the broader social implications of accounting history are considered, and previous conceptions of accounting as a one-sided technology exclusively favouring propertied interests and enhancing the morality of the poor are challenged.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"129 36","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136351990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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