Pub Date : 2023-11-09DOI: 10.1177/10323732231205646
Tiziana Di Cimbrini, Alessio Maria Musella, Christian Corsi
This study investigates the confluence between accounting and natural disasters by examining the case of the cholera epidemic that occurred in Bologna in 1855, a city of the Papal States, where there was a strong (medical) intellectual class critical of the central government exercised by the Pope and clergy. We analysed primary and secondary sources available in Bologna in the Municipal Library of the Archiginnasio, State Archive, and Municipal Historical Archive to demonstrate how the accounting for and of the epidemic overturned the traditional power structures of the Papal States. Specifically, the medical establishment, leveraging the medical-administrative accounting technologies, replaced the clergy and local aristocracy as the governing body of the city, paving the way for the future secularisation of the administration. The study contributes to the literature by providing political implications of accounting technologies for natural disasters.
{"title":"Accounting <i>for</i> and <i>of</i> the epidemic in Bologna in 1855: The <i>medicus-politicus</i> in the Papal States","authors":"Tiziana Di Cimbrini, Alessio Maria Musella, Christian Corsi","doi":"10.1177/10323732231205646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231205646","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the confluence between accounting and natural disasters by examining the case of the cholera epidemic that occurred in Bologna in 1855, a city of the Papal States, where there was a strong (medical) intellectual class critical of the central government exercised by the Pope and clergy. We analysed primary and secondary sources available in Bologna in the Municipal Library of the Archiginnasio, State Archive, and Municipal Historical Archive to demonstrate how the accounting for and of the epidemic overturned the traditional power structures of the Papal States. Specifically, the medical establishment, leveraging the medical-administrative accounting technologies, replaced the clergy and local aristocracy as the governing body of the city, paving the way for the future secularisation of the administration. The study contributes to the literature by providing political implications of accounting technologies for natural disasters.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":" 10","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135290614","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 : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1177/10323732231209164
{"title":"The twelfth Accounting History International Conference“Accounting for arts, culture and heritage in historical perspectives”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/10323732231209164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231209164","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"12 1","pages":"680 - 681"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139305869","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 : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1177/10323732231208726
Lisa Jack, Christopher Napier
This article introduces the Special Issue of Accounting History on the topic of accounting and the exploitation of the natural world. After exploring the ambivalent nature of the word ‘exploitation’, with both positive and negative senses, the article reviews some earlier contributions to the historical accounting research literature relevant to the Special Issue. The four substantive research papers in the Special Issue are discussed and put into broader contexts, and the article identifies some potentially fruitful avenues for further research into how accounting has been implicated in the exploitation of the natural world in the past. The article concludes with brief tributes to two recently deceased accounting academics, Professor Tom Schneider and Professor Mike Jones, whose contributions to the Special Issue and to stimulating research into accounting for biodiversity, respectively, are acknowledged.
{"title":"Accounting and the exploitation of the natural world: Studies from a historical perspective","authors":"Lisa Jack, Christopher Napier","doi":"10.1177/10323732231208726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231208726","url":null,"abstract":"This article introduces the Special Issue of Accounting History on the topic of accounting and the exploitation of the natural world. After exploring the ambivalent nature of the word ‘exploitation’, with both positive and negative senses, the article reviews some earlier contributions to the historical accounting research literature relevant to the Special Issue. The four substantive research papers in the Special Issue are discussed and put into broader contexts, and the article identifies some potentially fruitful avenues for further research into how accounting has been implicated in the exploitation of the natural world in the past. The article concludes with brief tributes to two recently deceased accounting academics, Professor Tom Schneider and Professor Mike Jones, whose contributions to the Special Issue and to stimulating research into accounting for biodiversity, respectively, are acknowledged.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135779828","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 : 2023-10-12DOI: 10.1177/10323732231204397
Martin Emanuel Persson
This study investigates the American Institute of Accountants’ development of aptitude testing in the 1940s, drawing on Abbott's system of professions as a theoretical framework. The Institute began to emphasise the importance of the CPA designation among its members in the 1930s. Whereas this change in emphasis made public accounting more prestigious as a professional pursuit, the increased barriers to entry and the onset of WW2 led to a shortage of qualified individuals entering the profession. The Institute established a committee addressing this shortage through the development of aptitude tests administered to undergraduate students. Based on previously unexamined empirical evidence from the University of Illinois Archives, this study is the first to investigate this historical episode and, in so doing, contribute to our understanding of the development of the American accounting profession, the curious case of testing for aptitude in accounting, and the prevailing separation between the profession and universities in the training of students that seek to enter public accounting.
{"title":"The American Institute of Accountants’ aptitude testing experiment in the 1940s: An initiative to increase the supply of able accountants","authors":"Martin Emanuel Persson","doi":"10.1177/10323732231204397","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231204397","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the American Institute of Accountants’ development of aptitude testing in the 1940s, drawing on Abbott's system of professions as a theoretical framework. The Institute began to emphasise the importance of the CPA designation among its members in the 1930s. Whereas this change in emphasis made public accounting more prestigious as a professional pursuit, the increased barriers to entry and the onset of WW2 led to a shortage of qualified individuals entering the profession. The Institute established a committee addressing this shortage through the development of aptitude tests administered to undergraduate students. Based on previously unexamined empirical evidence from the University of Illinois Archives, this study is the first to investigate this historical episode and, in so doing, contribute to our understanding of the development of the American accounting profession, the curious case of testing for aptitude in accounting, and the prevailing separation between the profession and universities in the training of students that seek to enter public accounting.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135969927","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 : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1177/10323732231203011
Martin Quinn, Brid Murphy
Technology has increasingly opened new avenues and methods in accounting and other business research. Accounting history research is not immune to technological developments, and we propose that increased digitalisation offers opportunities to enhance the appeal and relevance of such research, both within the accounting history realm itself and beyond. After setting out a clear definition of digitalisation, we reflect on what accounting history is as represented in the literature and then present empirical insights from two research settings – a religious organisation and a brewery – to provide a representation of what digitalisation means in terms of ‘doing’ accounting history research. The article also reflects on how a digital world can open new research avenues and reduce the risks of scholasticism and sophism.
{"title":"Accounting history in a digital age: Empirical experiences, improving methods and unlocking new research avenues","authors":"Martin Quinn, Brid Murphy","doi":"10.1177/10323732231203011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231203011","url":null,"abstract":"Technology has increasingly opened new avenues and methods in accounting and other business research. Accounting history research is not immune to technological developments, and we propose that increased digitalisation offers opportunities to enhance the appeal and relevance of such research, both within the accounting history realm itself and beyond. After setting out a clear definition of digitalisation, we reflect on what accounting history is as represented in the literature and then present empirical insights from two research settings – a religious organisation and a brewery – to provide a representation of what digitalisation means in terms of ‘doing’ accounting history research. The article also reflects on how a digital world can open new research avenues and reduce the risks of scholasticism and sophism.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135093035","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 : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1177/10323732231196939
Laura Maran, Thomas Schneider, Michele Andreaus
Water exploitation is at the centre of current social and environmental sustainability discourses, one form of which is hydropower. Intense damming of rivers and natural basins occurred in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe (and elsewhere). Following Miller and Power's concept of territorialisation and Foucault's notion of visibility, this study sheds light on the water management arena, read through changes in stakeholder objectives and accountabilities. Its focus is on the ‘accounts’ of environmental concerns, from post WWII to the new millennium. The analysis focuses on the case of the Santa Giustina dam in Northern Italy, using archival and oral-history approaches. It is shown how an increasing visibility of environmental concerns translated into a higher degree of ‘territorialisation’ through their itemisation in water quality and quantity parameters. This historical evolution informs policy makers, managers and society in general, about how to address profits and environmental issues regarding current water exploitation.
{"title":"A multi-period analysis of a water management arena in the Italian Alps, circa 1951–2007: The territorialisation of environmental concerns","authors":"Laura Maran, Thomas Schneider, Michele Andreaus","doi":"10.1177/10323732231196939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231196939","url":null,"abstract":"Water exploitation is at the centre of current social and environmental sustainability discourses, one form of which is hydropower. Intense damming of rivers and natural basins occurred in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe (and elsewhere). Following Miller and Power's concept of territorialisation and Foucault's notion of visibility, this study sheds light on the water management arena, read through changes in stakeholder objectives and accountabilities. Its focus is on the ‘accounts’ of environmental concerns, from post WWII to the new millennium. The analysis focuses on the case of the Santa Giustina dam in Northern Italy, using archival and oral-history approaches. It is shown how an increasing visibility of environmental concerns translated into a higher degree of ‘territorialisation’ through their itemisation in water quality and quantity parameters. This historical evolution informs policy makers, managers and society in general, about how to address profits and environmental issues regarding current water exploitation.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136263826","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 : 2023-09-11DOI: 10.1177/10323732231197267
Giuseppe Modarelli, Stefano Amelio, Christian Rainero
The authors propose a critical reinterpretation of a case study embedded in the historical period of post-WWII in Southern Italy. This period is characterised by relevant socio-political and economic consequences at a global scale, and it has been scarcely investigated from a business perspective. The authors consider the connections between war damages accounting, adverse collateral events, and agricultural accounting as tools to claim for social changes. The analysis specifically concerns the damages caused to the warehouses of hemp growers in the province of Caserta (Campania region, Italy). This area was known as Terra di Lavoro (‘land of work’ (authors’ translation)) since the Middle Ages to outline the poor conditions of hemp growers. The features of the accounting analysed herein, in the light of neo-institutional theory, show how it was used as a technology for problem-solving and a potential trigger for the agrarian reform of 1950.
作者提出了一个关键的重新解释的案例研究嵌入在二战后的历史时期在意大利南部。这一时期的特点是在全球范围内产生相关的社会政治和经济后果,很少从商业角度对其进行调查。作者认为战争损失会计、不利附带事件和农业会计之间的联系是主张社会变化的工具。该分析特别关注对卡塞塔省(坎帕尼亚地区,意大利)大麻种植者仓库造成的损害。自中世纪以来,这个地区被称为Terra di Lavoro(“工作之地”(作者的翻译)),以概述大麻种植者的恶劣条件。根据新制度理论,本文分析了会计的特点,显示了它是如何被用作解决问题的技术和1950年土地改革的潜在触发因素。
{"title":"Combining war damages accounting and accounting for the natural world with social-organisational repercussions","authors":"Giuseppe Modarelli, Stefano Amelio, Christian Rainero","doi":"10.1177/10323732231197267","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231197267","url":null,"abstract":"The authors propose a critical reinterpretation of a case study embedded in the historical period of post-WWII in Southern Italy. This period is characterised by relevant socio-political and economic consequences at a global scale, and it has been scarcely investigated from a business perspective. The authors consider the connections between war damages accounting, adverse collateral events, and agricultural accounting as tools to claim for social changes. The analysis specifically concerns the damages caused to the warehouses of hemp growers in the province of Caserta (Campania region, Italy). This area was known as Terra di Lavoro (‘land of work’ (authors’ translation)) since the Middle Ages to outline the poor conditions of hemp growers. The features of the accounting analysed herein, in the light of neo-institutional theory, show how it was used as a technology for problem-solving and a potential trigger for the agrarian reform of 1950.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135938588","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 : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1177/10323732231193502
Merridee L Bujaki, Bruce McConomy, Leanne Morrison
We contribute to the accounting history and canal literature and the growing interest in environmental reporting by examining the philosophical approaches evident in the accountability documents of two historical canal projects, the Erie and Rideau Canals. We examine official records of the construction of these canals to identify sentences containing terms related to the environment and classify each sentence according to the environmental philosophy reflected. Of the three main streams of environmental ethics, we find evidence of both virtue ethics and utilitarian philosophical perspectives in the accounts, although the utilitarian perspective dominates. There is only sparse evidence of a deontological approach. We find differences in the ethical themes focused on each canal consistent with the degree of settlement nearby. We also find evidence of some common themes for both canals when analysed by the key phase of their planning and construction activities. We also consider the implications of these findings.
{"title":"A historical perspective on nature: Insights from environmental philosophy and the construction of the Erie and Rideau Canals","authors":"Merridee L Bujaki, Bruce McConomy, Leanne Morrison","doi":"10.1177/10323732231193502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231193502","url":null,"abstract":"We contribute to the accounting history and canal literature and the growing interest in environmental reporting by examining the philosophical approaches evident in the accountability documents of two historical canal projects, the Erie and Rideau Canals. We examine official records of the construction of these canals to identify sentences containing terms related to the environment and classify each sentence according to the environmental philosophy reflected. Of the three main streams of environmental ethics, we find evidence of both virtue ethics and utilitarian philosophical perspectives in the accounts, although the utilitarian perspective dominates. There is only sparse evidence of a deontological approach. We find differences in the ethical themes focused on each canal consistent with the degree of settlement nearby. We also find evidence of some common themes for both canals when analysed by the key phase of their planning and construction activities. We also consider the implications of these findings.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44407113","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 : 2023-08-31DOI: 10.1177/10323732231196256
Alan Sangster
This article presents the case for accounting historians to ‘go digital’, reflecting on a personal journey towards becoming a digital accounting historian, the motivations, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and outcomes. Above all, it describes benefits attainable by any accounting historian who allows ‘the digital’ to become how it should be, not the constraining master, but the flexible servant; and it sets a digital agenda for research into modern accounting history for now and for the future.
{"title":"‘Going digital’ – Its place in research into the history of modern accounting","authors":"Alan Sangster","doi":"10.1177/10323732231196256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732231196256","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents the case for accounting historians to ‘go digital’, reflecting on a personal journey towards becoming a digital accounting historian, the motivations, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and outcomes. Above all, it describes benefits attainable by any accounting historian who allows ‘the digital’ to become how it should be, not the constraining master, but the flexible servant; and it sets a digital agenda for research into modern accounting history for now and for the future.","PeriodicalId":45774,"journal":{"name":"Accounting History","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43199888","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}