The Academy of Accounting Historians

ACCOUNTING IN HISTORY
Author(s): Stephen P. Walker
Source: The Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2 (December 2005), pp. 233-259
Published by: The Academy of Accounting Historians
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Accounting HistoriansJournal
Vol. 32, No. 2
December2005

INTERFACES

StephenP. Walker
CARDIFFUNIVERSITY

ACCOUNTING IN HISTORY

Abstract:Recentstudiesof publicationpatternsin accountinghistory

portraya myopicand introspective discipline.Analysesreveal the
productionand dissemination ofaccountinghistoryknowledgewhich
focuspredominantly on Anglo-American settingsand the age of mo-
dernity.Limitedopportunities existforcontributions fromscholars
workingin languagesotherthanEnglish.Manyofthepractitioners of
accountinghistoryare also shown to be substantially disconnected
fromthe widercommunity of historians.It is arguedin the current
paperthatinterdisciplinaryhistoryhas thepotentialto enhancetheo-
reticaland methodologicalcreativity and greaterinclusivityin the
accountinghistoryacademy.A practicalrequirement forthisventure
of pointsof connectednessbetweenaccounting
is the identification
and otherhistorians.Ananalysisofpublicationswithaccountingcon-
tentin HistoricalAbstractsrevealsincreasinginterestamonghistori-
ans in the historyof accounting.This substantialliteratureincorpo-
rates sites largely unfamiliarto accounting historians,such as
Easternand CentralEurope and Centraland SouthAmerica.Histori-
ans also communicatetheirfindingson accountingin a varietyof
languages. Subjects particularlydeservingof interdisciplinary re-
searchengagingaccountingand otherhistoriansincludeaccounting
in agriculturaleconomies,theinstitutionsofpre-industrial ruralsoci-
etiesand diversesystemsofgovernment.

INTRODUCTION
The turnofthe21stcenturyhas witnessedtheappearance
ofa numberofpapersreflecting stateofac-
on theflourishing
and
countinghistory impediments to its future The
progress.
empiricalbase forthesecommentaries
is the of
analysis publica-
tionoutputs.Whilea cynicalobservermightcomprehend this

Acknowledgments:The authoris gratefulforcommentsreceivedfromthe

anonymousreferees,CherylMcWatters,Editorof Interfaces,and attendeesat
Workshopon Accounting
theInternational Historyin Italy,Pisa, January2005.

SubmittedFebruary2005
RevisedMay2005
AcceptedJune2005

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234 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

tendency tointrospection as indicative ofintellectual exhaustion

in a hitherto vibrantfield,a numberofimportant findings have
emergedfromsuch studieswhichpose challengesto the ac-
countinghistory community. In particular, thefindings of re-
centpaperson publishing patternsillustrate the need forac-
counting historianstopracticegreater inclusivity.
Based on an admittedly limitedpopulationof Englishlan-
guagepapersappearingfrom1996to 1999in thespecialistac-
countinghistory journals,Carnegieand Potterconcludedthat
theiranalysisindicates"theexistence ofa relatively insularin-
ternational accounting history researchcommunity dominated
bya smallnumberofinstitutions and authors"[2000].Carnegie
and Pottercontendedthataccounting history authorsseldom
engage in cross-border collaborative research and displaya lim-
itedtendency to venturebeyondcorethemesand themodern
period.A subsequent studyofthesexdistribution ofauthorsin
thesamejournalsrevealed, that
unsurprisingly, authorship and
editorialboardmembership in accounting history is male-domi-
nated[Carnegieet al, 2003].Edwards'[2004]broaderreviewof
theaccounting history literature identifiedconcerns aboutareas
of fadinginterest, publication media and the dissemination of
researchfindings. Fleischman and Radcliffe's celebration ofthe
advanceof accounting historyduring'theroaringnineties'is
temperedby fears of its quiet demisein the UnitedStates
[2005].
In his studyofthecontents ofthefirsttenvolumesofAc-
counting, Business & Financial History Anderson [2002]identi-
fieda predominance ofUK,US andAustralian authorsandsub-
jects,a concentration on the 19thand 20thcenturiesand a
dearthofcitations byaccounting historians to publishedmate-
rial outsideof accounting and business.Anderson [2002]con-
cludedthat"ABFHauthorshavereliedupona verynarrowlit-
erature, withalmost50 per centof all citationsderiving from
ten leadingaccountingand accounting/business history jour-
nals".Such findings are confirmatory of Parker'sobservation
almosta decadeearlier[1993] that"accounting history is in-
creasingly dominated by writers in Englishdiscussing private-
sectoraccounting in English-speaking countries ofthe19thand
20thcenturies".
A comprehensive studyof accounting history publications
in boththespecialistand generalaccounting journalshas been
conductedby Cannona[2003].Witha focuson diffusion this
researchis particularly enlightening in its confirmation of the

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 235

introspectivetendencies of most accounting historians.

Carmona'sanalysisof knowledge transfer betweenaccounting
history andrelateddisciplines showsthatonly7% ofcitations in
accountinghistoryarticlespublishedbetween1990 and 1999
wereto papersin history journals[alsoBadua,2003].Thestudy
also revealsthataccounting history authorsare decidedly local'
in theiruse ofliterature and primary sources,Anglo-American
authorsbeingespeciallyreluctant to access pertinent workin
otherlanguages.Carmona's[2004]studyof accounting history
papersin international (Englishlanguage)journalsand confer-
encesduringthe1990srevealsthat91% ofauthorswere'Anglo-
Saxon',publicationsfocusedon Anglo-American settingsand
72%ofpapersrelatedtotheperiod1850-1945.
Analyzing publication outputsin accounting history is valu-
able wherethe objectis to identify threats, opportunities, ex-
cludedacademiccommunities and newresearcharenasand ap-
proaches. The recentupsurge in 'navel gazing' has been
accompaniedbycallsforexpansiveagendas(suchas compara-
tive international accountinghistory[Carnegieand Napier,
2002]), consideration offuture researchdirections and method-
ologies[Funnell,1998;Parker,1999] and exhortations forthe
greaterinclusivity of scholars operating in non-' Anglo-Saxon'
contexts. Carmona[2004]concludedthatembracing non-Anglo-
Saxon scholarsand subjectmatterwas the "mostimportant
challenge" foraccounting historians.
Aswellas callingforthegreater collaboration ofaccounting
historians acrossgeographical and culturalspace,thefindings
reported in studiesofpublication patterns indicatethedesirabil-
of
ity greaterengagement across disciplines.It is thischallenge
to theaccounting history research community whichis thefo-
cus ofthepresentpaper.In contrast to mostrecentanalysesof
thecontent ofspecialistaccounting history journals,thecurrent
contribution seeksto lookoutwardly to thewiderdisciplineof
history, of accounting in history as opposedto accounting his-
in The is
tory accounting. study partly response a to Milleretal's
[1991]important contention that accounting history would be
advancedby "examining theworkof historians in fieldsother
thanaccounting, and assessingtheextentto whichtheyenable
new questionsto be posed or existingresearchagendasto be
refined ormodified".
The followingsectionreviewsthe natureof interdisci-
plinarity, particularly as it relatesto theproduction of knowl-
in It is
edge history. suggested that adherence to a holisticcon-

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236 December2005
HistoriansJournal,
Accounting

ceptof interdisciplinarity
mayhave a regenerative impacton
researchagendas,offersa palliative
to theinsularityofaccount-
inghistoryand has thepotential to challengethe'Anglo-Saxon'
hegemony.Identifying pointsof connectedness betweenac-
countingandotherhistorians is suggestedas a starting
pointfor
the encouragement of greaterinterdisciplinary practicein ac-
countinghistoryresearch.Hence,thesubsequent sectionreveals
theresultsof an analysisof a majorbibliographical database,
Historical
Abstracts,withtheaim of exploring thepresenceof
accountinginhistorypublications overthepasthalfcentury.

INTERDISCIPLINARY
ACCOUNTING
HISTORY
Accounting historians havelongbeenconsciousofthepo-
tentialimportance of accessingotherdisciplines, notleastbe-
cause theworkof historians, sociologists and philosophers in
has been instrumental
particular, in generating researchques-
tionsand ignitingdebatesin the field.The pluralization of
methodologies and interdisciplinarity werekeytenetsofthere-
generative'new accountinghistory'espousedby Milleret al
[1991].The publication of papersin theirspecialissue,drawn
fromInterdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conferences,
ledMilleretal [1991]to concluderatheroptimistically that"the
interdisciplinarystudyof accounting historyis an accomplish-
mentrather thana promise".
Subsequently, criticalscholarscontinued to iteratethead-
vancesin historical knowledge whichaccruedfroma greater
to interpreting
receptivity eventsthrough alternativetheoretical
lenses [Merino,1998] and broadeningthe subject matter,
sourcesand frameworks employedin accountinghistoryre-
search[Gaffikin, 1998]. Cross-disciplinary potentialitieshave
beenexplored at theinterface betweenaccounting and itsclose
neighbor,businesshistory [Carnegie andNapier,1996;Mathias,
1993;Parker,1997,VilleandFleming, 1999/2000].Parker[1997,
1999]has revealedtheopportunities foraccounting historyre-
searchwhichemergefromfurther engagement withmanage-
mentandsocialhistory. Oneoftheimportant themesto emerge
fromthe Academyof Accounting HistoriansConsortium on
Comparative International Accounting History in 1999[see The
Accounting Historians Notebook, 1999,No. 2] was theneedto
nurturemutuallybeneficialconnectionsbetweenaccounting
historiansand historians. The 'interfaces'sectionof The Ac-
countingHistoriansJournal,inauguratedin 2001, was a re-
sponseto this.In a recentcontribution to thissection,Zan

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 237

[2004]reiterated a demandforgreaterplurality in accounting

historiography madebyCarmonaand Zan [2002].The ongoing
character of suchcalls fordiversity, combinedwiththeresults
of studies of publishingpatterns,confirmthe essential
miradisciplinary character ofmostaccounting history.Thetime
appears ripe forrevisiting the argumentsforgreaterinter-
disciplinarity.
Interdisciplinarity is takenhereto referto "anyformof
dialogue or interaction betweentwoor moredisciplines" witha
viewto "producing newformsofknowledge" [Moran,2002,p.
16]. Interdisciplinarity is one of three principaltypesof
supradisciplinarity [Balsiger,2004].Multidisciplinarity involves
on
drawing knowledge from two or more disciplineswithout
collaboration or the cross fertilization of researchoutcomes.
Thevoguishtransdisciplinarity concernsresearchorientated to-
wardsseekingsolutionsto societalproblemsand a heteroge-
neousapproachtoknowledge production whichtranscends aca-
demic disciplinarystructures.It has been suggestedthat
whereasinterdisciplinarity involvesa 'mixing'of disciplines,
transdisciplinarity involves their fusion[Lawrenceand Després,
2004;Klein,2004].
Interdisciplinary approachesarewidelylaudedfortheirpo-
tentialto relievemethodological bottlenecksand arresttheoreti-
cal stagnation withina singlediscipline. The importation ofin-
sights borrowed from other can
disciplines inspirecreativity and
regeneration. Outsiders or 'immigrants' may bring fresh per-
spectives to a discipline oridentify oversights'.
'crossdisciplinary
An interdisciplinary stancemayalso revealissueswhichexist
beyonddisciplinarybordersand encourageintegratedap-
proachesto solvingcomplexproblems [Nissani,1997].Sincethe
1960s,the advocatesof interdisciplinary historyin particular
havearguedthatthecross-fertilization oftheoriesand methods
fromotherhumanities and socialscienceshas thepotentialto
pose new researchquestionsand introducealternative tech-
niquesforaddressing them[Rotberg andRabb,1970].Although
it remainsthecase thatinterdisciplinarity has "deeplyaffected
thethinking and scholarly outputofonlya minority ofhistori-
ans",it is firmly established at thehighestlevelofscholarship.
Thequestion"whether or notthehistorian shoulduse theideas
and methodsof otherfieldsis no longerat issue"[Hornand
Ritter, 1986].
Interdisciplinarity also impliesa democraticapproachto
knowledge production, onewhichhas thepotential to challenge

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238 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

the vestedinterests, intellectual orthodoxies, conventions and

exclusivity whichcan emergefromthe institutionalization of
singledisciplines [Moran,2002,pp. 3, 14].Indeed,criticsofthe
current'Anglo-Saxon' hegemony in accountinghistorymight
perceivethe organizations whichrepresent the field,the dis-
coursesurrounding itspractice, andtheresearchtraditions, au-
thorsand languageswhichdominateitsjournals,as illustrative
oftheinstitutional structures ofan miradiscipline. Theseprob-
lemsmight be assuagedbygreater interdisciplinarity.
The broadernotionof democratizedpluralityin inter-
disciplinarity is epitomized byone ofitsmosttangiblemanifes-
tationsin thefieldofhistory - theestablishment ofTheJournal
of Interdisciplinary History in 1970. This journal continuesto
pursuefamiliarity with, and integration of, "a varietyof topics
without limitto geographical area or chronological period"and
has producedspecialissuesin a variety oflanguages.Interdisci-
plinaryapproaches (and transdisciplinary approacheseven
moreso) recognizethatborrowings fromotherterritories may
be culturaland lingualas wellas theoretical and methodologi-
cal. The reasonsforthiswereiteratedby Lovejoyas earlyas
1940[pp.3-4]:
Thehistory ofpoliticaleventsandsocialmovements, of
economicchanges,of religion,of philosophy, of sci-
ence,ofliterature andtheotherarts,ofeducation, have
been investigated by distinctgroupsof specialists,
manyof themlittleacquaintedwiththe subjectsand
theresearchers oftheothers.The specialization which
- thelimitations oftheindividual mindbeingwhatthey
are- hadthisas itsnaturalconsequence was indispens-
able forthe progressof historical knowledge; yetthe
consequence provedalso,in theend,an impediment to
such progress.For the departmentalization - whether
bysubjects, periods,nationalities, or languages- ofthe
studyof the historyof thoughtcorresponds, forthe
mostpart,to no realcleavagesamongthephenomena
studied.Theprocessesofthehumanmind,in theindi-
vidualor thegroup,whichmanifest themselves in his-
tory,do notrunin enclosedchannelscorresponding to
the officially establisheddivisionsof university facul-
ties.. . . Historiography, in short,forexcellent practical
reasons,is divided, butthehistorical processis not;and
thisdiscrepancy betweenthe procedureand the sub-
ject-matter has tended,at best,to produceseriouslacu-
nae in thestudyif the history of man,and at worst,
sheererrors anddistortions.

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 239

Otherpotentialadvantagesof interdisciplinary approaches

foraccounting historians includethe scope theyofferforim-
proving thecontextualization ofthephenomena studied(an at-
tributeincreasingly soughtby journalreviewers) and the in-
creased opportunity forresearchfundingin nationswhere
agenciesactivelyencourageprojectproposalswhichstraddle
subjectboundaries.
Thebenefits ofinterdisciplinarity havebeenwellrehearsed.
Yet,the approachis notwithoutits critics.Interdisciplinarity
has beendescribed as "themostseriously underthought critical,
pedagogical and institutional concept in the modern academy"
[Liu,1989,quotedin Moran,2002,p. 1]. Detractors notethatif
pursued to the exclusion of mono-disciplinarity, inter-
disciplinarity can resultin excessive eclecticism, historical re-
ductionism and the stultification of advancesin the produc-
tion of depth knowledge. Further,the practitionersof
interdisciplinary researchsuffer theburdenof mastering more
thanone bodyofknowledge, loss of identity in theiracademic
'home'andmaysuffer theconsequences ofoperating in contexts
wherethe institutions whichmeasureresearchand teaching
performance remainstructured aroundtraditional disciplinary
boundaries.
Criticsalso notethatcalls forinterdisciplinarity in histori-
cal researchfrequently offer'banalexhortations' ofitsvirtues as
to
opposed producing works which reveal itsutility.Proponents
of interdisciplinarity oftenfailto addresstheundoubtedcom-
plexitiesofitspracticalimplementation [Hunt,1994].Hornand
Ritter[1986] contendedthat"Eventoday,thereis doubtless
moretalkabouttheneedforinterdisciplinary history thanac-
tualproduction ofinterdisciplinary work".Ofparticular impor-
tancetothepracticeofinterdisciplinary researchis encouraging
dialoguebetweenthepractitioners ofdifferent disciplines. Also
desirableis theassumption of outward-lookingopposedto
an as
an introspective stance - receptiveness to the insightsto be
gained from researchers operating in various geographical and
disciplinary territories.Among the to
impediments fostering
communication and co-operation acrossboundariesis lack of
knowledge aboutpointsofconnectedness and potential engage-
ment[Rotberg andRabb,1970].It is in relation to thispractical
impediment to interdisciplinary endeavor(as itrelatesto poten-
tial interfaces between accountinghistoriansand historians)
thatthepapernowturns.

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240 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

SOURCESANDMETHODS
Accounting historians have longbenefited froma regular
of
supply bibliographical data. During the 1970s and 1980s,
R.H. Parkerrecognizedthe importanceof compilingbiblio-
graphicalsourcesto assistresearchers in thedeveloping disci-
pline[1980,1988;PryceJones,1974]. Parker and Graves' [1989]
bibliography of historiography was testament to the need for
methodological and epistemological advancein accounting his-
The
tory. Accounting Historians Notebook has a regular'History
in Print'sectionwhichidentifies "accounting history research
whichmaybe ofinterest anduse bytheAcademy membership".
Readersare encouraged to notify theNotebook ofpublications
"inan effort toprovidethebroadestcoverageandrecognition of
accounting history research". 'History in Print' has enumerated
itemsin a variety of accounting and businessjournals,and on
occasionthe listinghas extendedbeyondpublications in the
Englishlanguage[see,forexample,October1998].Therecently
compiledtaxonomicclassification of papersin theAccounting
Historians Journal containedin theAccounting ResearchData-
base is also a usefulbibliographic researchtool [Badua et al,
2003].
Anderson has provided a similarly valuableservicein com-
pilingan annuallistingof'Accounting History Publications'for
Accounting, Business& FinancialHistory. Thisdetailsmaterial
written in Englishon accounting history broadlydefinedand is
drawnprimarily butnotexclusively fromaccounting andrelated
journals.Anderson'scompilationexcludesbusinesshistory
whichis separately reviewedon an annualbasis in Business
History. Accounting History has also publishedan annualpubli-
cationslist.Thistoo is confined to materialwritten in English
and is substantially compiledfromaccounting and accounting
history journals.TheAccounting History listis notintended to
be exhaustive. Rather, itseeksto indicatetypesofresearchcon-
ductedovertherelevant period.
The currentstudydrawsits data froma bibliographical
sourcewhichis notconfinedto accounting and businesshis-
tory.According to itsmanaging editor, Historical Abstracts "has
longbeenrecognized as theleadingbibliography forhistorical
studyin the world"[http://serials.abc-clio.com/aboutha.html].
HistoricalAbstracts commenced in 1954andrepresents a biblio-
graphical databaseofhistory articles,doctoraltheses,andbooks
reviewedin journals.Materialon theperiodfrom1450to the
presentday is includedin the database.Publications on pre-

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 24 1

medievalsubjectsare not.Historical Abstracts includespapers

culledfrommorethan2,000outlets,comprising "thekeyhis-
toricaljournalsfromvirtually everymajorcountry", as wellas
otherjournalsof interest to historians in the humanities and
social sciences[ibid].Publicationsare not confinedto those
written in English,thoughtheabstractsare translated or pre-
paredin thatlanguage.Publications on US and Canadiansub-
jects are coveredby a separatedatabaseAmerica: History and
Life.Historical Abstracts currently containsover600,000entries
and 20,000new citationsare added annually.The databaseis
updatedmonthly.
As availableon the Internet, HistoricalAbstracts permits
simple and advanced keyword searches by subject, author, title,
language,journal name, document type, publication date and
period. For the purposes of this study, searches were made of
thefollowing keywords: accounting, accountancy, bookkeeping,
audit,auditing, accountant, accountants. Attheend of August
2003,theseproducedthefollowing numbers ofitems:'account-
ing (819), accountancy (29), 'bookkeeping (105), audit'(57),
'auditing' (44), 'accountant' (39), and 'accountants' (48). Theab-
stractsweredownloaded and reviewed. A numberofitemswere
thenremovedfromthepopulationstudied.Theserepresented
publications whichappearedin one of thethreespecialistac-
countinghistory journals{Accounting Historians Journal, Ac-
counting, Business & Financial History) Accounting History) or
BusinessHistory(which,as statedearlier,has its own annual
reviewoftheliterature). Articles on historical subjectspublished
in generalaccounting journals notfeaturein Historical
do Ab-
stracts.A smallnumberofarticleson US subjectspublishedin
the 1950sand 1960swerealso excludedas moreappropriately
belonging tothedatabaseonAmerica: History andLife.
Itemswheretheabstractincludeda keyword such as 'ac-
counting' but no apparentaccounting content were also re-
moved.Mostofthelatterinstancesused theword'accounting'
to mean the givingof reasonsor offering explanations, as in
'Accounting for Taste: ExportBananas, Mass Markets and
Panama Disease'; or, as an assessmentof a life,as in 'Ernst
Kantovowicz: AnAccounting'. As a resultof thisselectionpro-
cess the numberof abstractsin the populationwas reduced
from1,141to 521. Giventhenumbersinvolved, references to
individual publications are not provided in thispaper.However,
itis hopedthatsufficient information is offeredaboutparticular
articlesto enablekeywordsearchesof Historical Abstracts. It

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242 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

shouldalso be emphasized thatthefullarticlesand theseswere

notreadandtheextent oftheaccounting content ofthepublica-
tionshas notbeenascertained. The latteris likelyto varycon-
siderably.However,it is hopedthatthefindings reported will
identifypotentialareas of researchforaccountinghistorians
andconvergences ofinterest withmainstream historians.
Thenextsectionprovides a statistical
summary ofthechar-
acteristicsofpublications journalsand theseswhich
in history
Thisis followed
relateto accounting. bya moredetailedsurvey
of theaccounting contentof itemsfeaturing Ab-
in Historical
stracts.

PROFILEOF PUBLICATIONS IN HISTORICALABSTRACTS

WHICHRELATETO ACCOUNTING
YearofPublication: The datain Table 1 indicatesan increasing
numberofpublications in thehistoryliteratureon accounting-
relatedsubjects.Thismirrors theadvancing interest in history
in accounting academe.In 1954-1969, the averagenumberof
accounting-relatedhistorypublications containedin Historical
Abstractswas 3.9 perannum.Duringthe 1980sand 1990s,this
increasedto 16.7perannum.
TABLE 1
Year of Publication
Year ofPublication N %
1954-59 17 3
1960-69 45 9
1970-79 102 20
1980-89 164 31
1990-99 170 33
2000-02 23 4
TOTAL 521 100

Language: languagesinwhichpubli-
Table2 showstheprincipal
cationscontainedin the databasewerewritten. Although the
dominant languagewas English,66% ofpublicationswerepre-
paredin 24 otherlanguages.TheserangedfromAfrikaans to
Swedish.This findingindicatesthe existenceof a significant
historyliterature to accounting
relating outsideof theEnglish
language.

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 243

TABLE 2
Languageof PublicationsIncludedin theDatabase
(wheren >10)
Language N %
English 227 44
Spanish 61 12
French 54 10
German 36 7
Italian 27 5
Russian 27 5
Japanese 14 3
Polish 13 2
Other(n=17) 62 12
TOTAL 521 100

PeriodStudied:Table3 revealsthat61% oftheitemscontained

in thedatabaseconcerned themodernperiod.Thisfinding ac-
cordswiththetemporal focusofmostaccounting historians.

TABLE 3
PeriodStudied
Century _N %
15th 18 3
16th 42 8
17th 38 7
18th 65 13
19th 121 23
20th 196 38
Various/non-
temporal 41 8
TOTAL 521 100

LocationStudied:Table4 revealsthatmostofthe
Geographical
in thedatasetconcernedEuropeancountries.
publications The
accountingsubjectmatterexaminedin historical
studiesin the
locationsis nowexplored.
principal
SUBJECTMATTER
GreatBritain:Thereweremorepublications relatingto account-
ingin Britainin Historical
Abstracts
thanany othersinglecoun-
In
try. part, this the
reflects included
journals in Historical
Ab-
stractsand thefactthatestablishedaccountinghistorianshave
achievedpublications in economichistoryjournalsand there-
foreappearin thedatabaseforthisstudy.Contributors suchas

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244 HistoriansJournal,
Accounting December2005

TABLE 4
GeographicalLocationStudied
(wheren >10)
LOCATION N N %
Europe
GreatBritain 89
USSR 38
France 36
Germany 36
Italy 30
Spain 26
Poland 15
Austria 13
Czechoslovakia 11
Other(n=13 countries) 59
Total 353 68
Asia
China 22
Japan 16
Other(n=10 countries) 27
Total 65 13
Africa 15 3
Australasia 10 2
Centraland SouthAmerica
Peru 11
Other(n=15 countries) 44
Total 55 10
Non-specific 23 4

TOTAL 521 100

Boyns,Fleischmanand Tyson,revealthe findingsof recent

scholarship on coresubjectsaddressedin earlierworksbyeco-
nomichistorians suchas Pollardon capitalaccounting in the
industrialrevolution and McKendrick on cost accountingat
Wedgwood duringthe18thcentury.
The mostsignificant betweenaccounting
subject-interface
and Britishhistory concernsthe stateand publicadministra-
tion.Againwe mayidentify workby accounting historiansin
thedatabase,such as doctoralthesesby Joneson accounting
andlocalgovernment sincethe19thcentury andHaslamon the
state,accounting andaccountingpublicityintheearly-19thcen-
tury.MillerandRose'sworkon governmentality also featuresin
HistoricalAbstracts.Beyondthesemorefamiliarworkslay a
variety of themespursuedby historians withmorevigorthan

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Walker:Accounting
in History 245

theircolleaguesin accounting. Theseinclude:thehistory ofthe

ScottishExchequerand accounting and auditof royalrevenue
in Scotlandfromthe13thcentury; theoffice ofTheComptroller
in 15th-century Scotland;accounting and auditin thereform of
publicfinances underHenryVII; accounting forthecourtrevels
of HenryVIII and shiftsfromnarrative to documentary ac-
countability; theworkof the Courtof Auditin theearly16th
century; accounting procedures in theroyalhouseholdduring
the17thcentury; theimportance oftheCommissioners ofPub-
lic Accountsofthe 1690sin Englishpartypolitics;theworkof
theCommissioners forExaminingPublicAccountsduringthe
1780sas a component ofan administrative revolution; and the
deficiencies of centralgovernment accountingand financial
controlsince 1866.In relationto morerecenttimes,subjects
includecomputerized accounting forValueAddedTax; debates
overtheNationalAuditAct,1983,and auditingin theMinistry
ofDefenceduringthe1980s.
Similarly, thereare a smallbutincreasing numberofstud-
ies of accountingin Britishmilitary history. Subjectsinclude
accounting controls to prevent fraud in procuring suppliesfor
thenavyduringthe1770sand 1780s;SamuelBentham's system
ofaccounting andaccountability in navaldockyards, 1797-181 1;
accounting reforms in naval dockyards in the second halfof the
19thcentury; and costaccounting in thearmyduringtheearly-
20thcentury.
Themostsignificant subjectofhistorical workson account-
ingbeyond the stateand publicadministration in Britainis the
accountancy profession. Again, this is partly attributable to the
inclusionin Historical Abstracts of publications by accounting
historians.Doctoraltheseson the profession in Scotlandby
Kedslieand Walkerfeature, as do articleson Scottishaccoun-
tantsin the sociologicalliterature.The workof Anderson,
Edwardsand Matthews on accountants in Britishmanagement
has also beenpublishedin journalsof economicand business
history.Jones'history ofErnstand Whinney is also includedin
thedatabase.Less familiar studiesalso feature. Theseconcern,
forexample:an accountant whowas influential intheformation
of NorthWales Quarryman's Union;biographies of a pacifist
Quakeraccountant;an accountant's family as an exampleof
middleclass lifeafterWorldWar II; firmsof Manchester ac-
countants in 1950-1980; andresearchon thedevelopment ofthe
expectations gapduring1980s.
The significance and use ofaccounting recordsas a source

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246 HistoriansJournal,
Accounting December2005

in businesshistory is thesubjectofseveralBritishstudies,pri-
marily authored byarchivists. Businessandeconomichistorians
have utilizedsuch materialto investigate subjectssuch as:
smuggling by Bristolmerchants duringthe 16thcentury; pub-
lishinghistory duringthelate-17thcentury; theprofitabilityof
the 18th-century slave trade;CoventGardentheatrein the
1730s;Welshindustry from1700to 1830;andthefinancial per-
formance of variouscompaniesfromthelate- Victorianto the
interwar periods.
Accounting practiceas opposedto accounting recordsfea-
turemoreexplicitly in studiesof the following: 16th-century
ironworks; theHudsonBay Companyin thelate-17thcentury;
mercantile bookkeeping manualsofthe17thand 18thcenturies;
absenteelandedestatesin the 17thcentury; tradingfamiliesin
the18thcentury; largecorporations during interwar
the period;
theintroduction ofcomputerized processing in theLyonsfood
companyin 1947;and studiesofcorporate culturesinceWorld
WarII. Accounting in
concepts emerge studiesofnational
also
incomeaccounting fromthe 17thcentury onwards,social ac-
counting models in macro-economic analysesofthe1930s,and
Keynesian double entry formats in nationalaccounting.
Anothersignificant interfaceis betweenaccountingand
transport history.Again,thispartly represents thecontributions
ofaccounting historians suchas Arnoldinjournalsoftransport
and maritime history. Papersexploreaccounting fraudin 19th-
century railwaycompanies; railway accounting duringthe1930s
to 1950s;pricingand financialaccounting in tramway compa-
niesduringthesecondhalfofthe19thcentury; bookkeeping in
local shippingfirmsduringthe 1750s;the use of accounting
recordsto assesstheperformance ofshipping companiesduring
the 19thcentury; financial reporting byshippingcompaniesin
late-19thandearly-20th centuries; secretreserve accounting and
reporting by shippingcompaniesduring World War I and the
post-war period.
A smallnumberofpublications on Britishsocialand medi-
cal historyengagewithaccounting. These includestudiesof
and
charity poor relief in 16th and 17th-century Exeter;ac-
counting and vocational education in Lowland Scotland during
the 18thcentury; accounting and auditin voluntary hospitals
duringthemid-18thcentury; thehistory ofmedicalauditfrom
themid-19thcentury; and insightsto thePrimitive Methodist
Churchthroughbookkeeping records.Some potentially fasci-
nating studieswith accounting content have been undertaken in

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 247

literary TheseincludeSamuelPepys'diary(1660-1669)
history.
as an accounting fortheself;bookkeepingarithmetic in John
Graunt'sNaturaland PoliticalObservations
(1662); accounting
foracquisitiveindividualism Pope'sTheDunciad
in Alexander
(1728); and the conceptof accountingand quantification in
DanielDefoe'sMollFlanders(1772).
USSR:Perhapsone ofthemostsurprising findings ofthisstudy
is thenumberof abstractsrelatingto accounting in thecoun-
triescomprising theformer SovietUnion.Beforethedissolution
oftheUSSR in 1991,mosthistory publications on Russiawith
an accounting contentconcernedthedevelopment of account-
ing in the Communist state.Particularattention was devotedto
accounting under the New Economic Policy of 1921. Authors
frequently refer to the gestation implementationLenin's
and of
ideas on accounting in theplannedeconomyand thefunction-
ing of costingin stateindustry and collectivefarms.'Selfac-
counting' in workers co-operatives 1920-1980, accounting in the
FirstFive-YearPlan forthesteelindustry from1928,and ac-
counting on collective and statefarmsfromthe 1950salso fea-
ture.Studiesalso examineattempts to introducemechanized
accounting in the Soviet economy from 1928and in theLatvian
SovietSocialistRepublicduringthe1970s.StudiesoftheGreat
PatrioticWar (1941-1945)discussstateagenciessuch as the
workof the'Committee forAccounting' on thedistribution of
laborwhilecritiques of'fascistbookkeeping' concern accounting
forSovietprisoners ofwarand thenumberof military casual-
ties.Studies of the post-war USSR also refer to accounting in
economicplanning, assess the accounting systems used in in-
dustrialcomplexes in Siberia,theproblems ofascertaining costs
on Soviet farms,and the accountingconsequences the of
gradualintroduction of marketeconomicsduringthe 1980s.
DuringtheColdWar,authorsoutsidetheUSSR also critiqued
the accountingmethodsbehinddisclosuresof Sovietmilitary
spending andmacro-economic performance.
Publications on auditingreferto theauditfunction of the
Workersand PeasantsInspectorate and its significance for
implementing statepolicy at the local level during the 1920s.
Alsoconsidered is theworkoftheCentralAuditing Commission
oftheCommunist Party from 1917 to 1933. Articlesrelating to
pre-revolutionary Russia include studies of the accountability of
monasteries to the state during the 17th and 18th centuries;
accounting practices in the19th-century furtrade,company law

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248 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

on accounting,1836-1917;and accountingpracticeson rural

estates duringthe 18thcentury.Accountingrecordshave
formed therawmaterialforassessmentsofthestandardofliv-
ingoftheLatvianpeasantryinthe18thcenturyandtheproduc-
ofminesintheUralsduringthe1860s.
tivity
France:Advancing interest in accounting history in Franceis
demonstrated bytheannualresearchconference, established in
1995,and theappearanceofspecialissueson Frenchaccount-
ing historyin Accounting, Businessand FinancialHistoryin
1997and 2001.The editorialintroductions to thelattersuggest
thatan originating concernamongscholarsin Francewithac-
counting andthemanagement ofenterprises [Parkeretal, 1997]
has beenrecently supplemented bya moreinterdisciplinary fo-
cus [Boynsand Nikitin, 2001].The accounting citations in His-
toricalAbstracts on Frenchsubjectsare suggestive ofa plurality
ofinterests ofa longerduration. Studieson accounting inindus-
tryfocus on: major concerns such as Schneider and the Société
Généraled'Entreprises; a clothfactory during the 18th century;
shipping firmsin 18th-century Nantes;theironindustry during
the1830s;intermediate accounting inpublicworksfirms during
the interwar period;and Emile Rimailho'sworkon cost ac-
counting fortheFrenchCommission on Scientific Management
during the interwar years. There are also studieson therelation-
ship betweenaccountingmethodsand the social sourcesof
capitalin 18th-century companiesand thedevelopment ofcon-
cepts of commercial capital. Articles address the problemsof
accounting forslaves in the French West Indies duringthe18th
century; issues in the and
development regulation of corporate
reporting; the audit function of the Cour des Comptesfrom
1807; and accounting and business fraud since the 1950s.As in
Britain,the work of accounting historians(such as Lemarchand
andNikitin) feature amongthecitations.
Studiesofpre-industrial businessesin Franceincludemer-
chantsin 16th-century Bordeauxand Toulouse.Historical Ab-
stractsalso containsstudieswhichconsideraccounting in agri-
cultureand ruralsociety.In relationto the 18thcentury, these
studiesincludeaccounting forland,theadvocacyofagricultural
accountingby the Physiocrats, and auditingcommunalac-
countsin EasternGascony.Researchon the 19thcentury has
focusedon agricultural accounting in the Pas-de-Calais, ac-
counting on cattle farms in Normandy and the books of a wine
growerin Medoc.Accounting recordshave been used in re-

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 249

searchto evaluateagricultural revenueand production in vari-

ous periods,taxation, and economicactivity in local communi-
ties.
Studiesofsocio-religious subjectsinFranceconcerntheuse
of accounting recordsto analyzetheconsumption patternsof
patientsin a Parishospitalduringthe 15thcentury; language
and tradebetweenFrenchand Germanbailiwicksin the 15th
century; the circulation of moneyin the Burgundianchurch
during the late-15thcentury; theactivities
ofa charitable broth-
erhoodin Toulousefromthe1490sto the1540s;religious perse-
cutionand politicsin a local community duringthe 17thcen-
tury;secularization in a local parishduringthe 17thand 18th
centuries;and thePortuguese JewishCommunity in Parisdur-
ing the late-18th One
century. paper refers
to the teachingof
accounting in advanced schools of commerce duringthe 19th
century.

Germany: Germanhistorians have referred to accounting in a

widevariety ofcontexts. Papers discuss the importance of teach-
ingcostaccounting to thoseeducatedforbusinessmanagement
andtheaccounting taughttotradesmen. Accounting recordsare
extolledfortheinsights they offerto subjectsranging frompeas-
ant lifein the 19thand 20thcenturiesto understanding the
of
operations companiestrading overseas. One paperurgesthe
importance oftax to
(as opposed corporate) balance sheetsas a
sourcefortheanalysisofindustrial concerns.
Studiesofthepre-industrial periodfocuson accounting and
auditin local and provincial government and church adminis-
tration.Thisfocusreflects theexistence ofdisparateprincipali-
tiesandstates before the emergence ofa unified Germany inthe
19thcentury. Publications discuss and
accounting bankruptcy
in Augsburg duringthe 16thand 17thcenturies, the role of
annualfinancialreporting by local communities to thecentral
authorityunderenlightened absolutism in 18th-century Baden,
andtheaccounting procedures usedin concerns operatedbythe
princesofThurnin the 19thcentury. Particularly intriguing is
of
the application Goethe'sconcept of 'natural' budgets while
administrator of the Duchyof Saxe-Weimar-Eisenback in the
1
late 8thcentury.
Costaccounting and bookkeeping in Germanheavyindus-
triesfeatures in business histories of majorconcernssuch as
Krupp.Onepaper discusses accounting information in thefam-
ilyfirm ofFreidrich An
Engels. organization which has received

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250 HistoriansJournal,
Accounting December2005

particularattentionfromhistoriansis the GermanNational

RailwayCompany. Thiswas founded in 1924in thewakeofthe
DawesPlanforthescheduling ofGermanpayment ofpost-war
reparations.The modernization oftherailwaysincludeda new
costingsystem. The originsofthesystemand opposition to its
implementation have featuredin studiesof the GermanNa-
tionalRailwayCompany duringtheinterwar period.Otherstud-
ies trackthelimitedapplicationofBedaux'ssystemofrational
industrialmanagement (includingaccounting and costcontrol).
Therearetwodoctoraldissertations on accounting forinflation
(one byGraves)duringthe 1920sand histories ofthestatutory
corporate auditfromthe1870stothe1930s.
Researchon Germansubjectsis not confinedto business
organizations.Studieshavebeenpublishedon Frederick I's au-
ditofthefinancesoftheJewishcommunity in Berlinin 1717;
discussionof energyaccounting, agriculturaleconomicsand
Marxism during the1880s;theaccounts ofPrussian universities
duringthelate-19thand early-20th centuries;accounting and
costcontrolin hospitalsduringthe20thcentury; administrative
bookkeeping, criminalstatisticsand social controlduringthe
19thcentury; andtheroleofaccounting in ensuringdemocratic
controlovertheWestGermanmilitary afterWorldWarII.

Italy:Studieson Italiansubjectsincludeand extendbeyondthe

emergence anduse ofdouble-entry bookkeeping in financialand
mercantileinstitutions and the workof historians,such as
FederigoMelis,on tracingtheoriginsofthetechnique. Studies
ofaccounting inthestateandpublicadministration concernthe
workoftheCortedei Conti(CourtofAccounts)established in
1862;accounting methods in public works during the 19th and
early-20thcenturies; uniform accountingin French-controlled
TuscanyduringtheNapoleonicWars;and fascismand thepro-
fessionalclass (includingaccountants)duringthe 1920s and
1930s.Studiesof the CatholicChurchincludethe accounting
techniquesappliedon theestatesoftheclergyduringthe 17th
and 18thcenturies, theuse of accounting recordsto tracethe
roleofthechurchas a sourceofcreditin thesameperiod,and
theaccounting reforms in Vaticanfinancesintroduced byPius
X at thestartofthe20thcentury. Withtheexception ofa study
of thearmaments sectorduringtheearly-20th century, indus-
trialaccountingin Italydoes not featuresignificantly in the
database.Researchon accounting and land ownership, estate
and
management relationships in aristocratic
familiesin various

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 251

periodsaremorecommon.Onepaperexaminesaccounting and
estatemanagement byFarmWorkers' Councilsin 1919-1920.
Anotherthemeis accountingeducationin Italy.Publica-
tionsreferto survivingschoolnotebooks to revealtheteaching
ofbookkeeping in Umbriain 1480;teachingaccounting as part
ofinstructionon estatemanagement institute
at an agricultural
in Meleto,1834;and how the secondaryeducationof girlsin
Turinincludedaccounting as preparation formanaginghouse-
holdsand family businesses.Otherworkhas examinedtheim-
portanceofpersonalbookkeeping to theupperclassin late-15th
centuryFlorence,the impactof accountingfor imaginary
moneyon inflation duringthe 16thand 17thcenturies; theac-
countingsystem of thepostalservice in Mantua;and a treatise
by GiovanniBianchini,an accountant, on algebraforastrono-
mers.

Spain:Boynsand Cannona[2002]identified and analyzed135

researchpiecesand twodoctoraldissertations on Spanishac-
counting history,1996-2001. Accounting-related publicationson
Spain contained in Historical Abstracts are much fewer in num-
ber.The workof HernándezEstevefeatures in thecitations.A
distinguishingfeature is the limited number of Spanish studies
on manufacturing contexts and thepresenceofworkrelating to
theruraleconomy, religious institutions,the public sectorand
colonialadministration. In relation tothefirst ofthese,account-
ingrecords have been used to the
study productivity ofNavarre
viticultureduring the 19th century, the economic on
strategies
landedestatesin the19thcentury, and thecattleindustry from
the 16thcentury. Studiesrelating to religiousinstitutions con-
cernaccounting forestateproperty by convents in 18th-century
Madrid,the financesof chaptersin the Cathedralsof Murcia
and Segorbe,and theimportance of accounting forEpiscopal
revenuesfromthe16thcentury to thedevelopment ofaccount-
in
ingprinciples Spain.
Publications concerning thestateandpublicadministration
relateto: theledgersoftheroyalaccountant and financing the
Spanishcrown,1495-1504;improvements to the bookkeeping
systemof theroyalexchequerand theCouncilof Financesin
Castileduringtheearly- 16thcentury; theintroduction ofdouble
entryto the royaltreasury of Castile in 1592;accounting in the
Valencianbailiwickduringthe 17thand 18thcenturies;ac-
counting procedures and taxcollection duringthe18thcentury;
the history of financialaccounting in the navyfromthe 16th

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252 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

century; debatesoverthe introduction of double-entry book-

keepingin accounting forcoloniesin SouthAmericaduringthe
1780sand 1790s;accounting in theProvince ofGuipúzcoadur-
ing the 19thcentury; and Treasuryaccountingfollowing re-
formsinstituted in 1911.Studiesrelatingto accounting func-
tionariesreferto thedetermination ofa just'rateofinterest by
PhilipII's accountantsfollowing financialcrisisin the 1570s;
biographical studiesofa Basqueaccountant and an accountant
of the RoyalTreasury; and accountants in the Catalantextile
industry fromthe19thcentury. Accounting in the16th-century
Segovianslavetradeand bookkeeping educationin academies
established bytheChamberofCommerce in theCanaryIslands
during the 19thcenturyalso feature.

Poland:Perhapsanotherunexpected finding ofthisstudyis the

numberof articlescontainedin Historical Abstractson Polish
subjects withan accounting content.These articles
relateprima-
rilyto economicand socialhistory researchwhichutilizedac-
countingrecords.Accounting sourceshave been the basis of
investigationsintothe financialmanagement ofchurches, mon-
asteries,Jewish Consistoriesand guildsin periodsranging from
the 15thto the 19thcenturies. Accounting records have also
beenused to tracetheadministration oflandedestatesduring
the 18thand 19thcenturies, theprofitabilityofrivertransport
and thestructure ofthegrainmarket in the18thcentury. Stud-
ies also coverdebatesaboutmoralaccounting in PolishJewry
duringthe19thcentury; theemployment offoreignaccountants
in farmmodernization programs the
during early-20th century;
accounting forreparations betweenPolandand Germany fol-
the
lowing Treaty of Versaillesin 1919;accounting and eco-
nomicreform duringthe 1970s;and the workof the Central
Auditing BoardofthePolishUnitedWorkers' Partyin theearly
1980s.
Austria:
Biographicalstudiesrelateto JosefSchlegal,Governor
ofUpperAustria, 1927-1933and laterPresident oftheAustrian
Accounting Gustav
Office; Tauschek, inventorof bookkeeping
machines,and; an attendeeof the School for
and calculating
Merchants inViennaat coursesin accounting andauditing dur-
ingthelate-18th There
century. is also referencein one publica-
tionto the foundingof a Chairof Accountancy in the Philo-
sophicalAcademy, Brno as earlyas 1846.A varietyof other
accountingsubjectsare also referred to in Austrianstudies.

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 253

Theseincludethecustomary use oftalliesand decimalcounters

forbookkeeping beforethe19thcentury; accountingand public
financein ViennaandAustrian townsin the15thand 16thcen-
offered
turies;theinsights by656 payment ledgers(1542-1825)
in theImperialArchive to publicfinanceand thecourtof the
HabsburgDynasty; theperformance ofaccounting functions
by
womenin familytradingconcernsin 18th-century Salzburg;
and thehistory of corporateaccounting in Austriaduringthe
20thcentury.

Czechoslovakia: Accounting in historyin theformer Czechoslo-

vakiaalso reflectsthemajorpresenceofrural-agricultural sub-
jectsin East European studies.Articlesconcern the use ofestate
accountsto traceconsumption patterns amongthelandedelite
during the 17th century;using accounts to investigate farm
management, the standardof living of farmers and the history
offorestry;bookkeeping systems employed on estatesfromthe
17thcentury to theelimination ofprivateproperty in 1948;and
theroleoftheaccounting sectionoftheMinistry ofAgriculture
in themodernization ofCzechfarming duringtheinterwar pe-
riod.Othertopicsincludefalseaccounting to Berlinon thecon-
ditionofBohemiaandMoraviaduringtheNazi occupation; cost
accounting in the post-warsocialisteconomy; and the establish-
mentofa commercial bookkeeping schoolforRussianrefugees
toCzechoslovakia followingthe 1917 Revolution.

China:In a recentthematic issueofAccounting, Business& Fi-

nancialHistory,Lu and Aiken[2003]suggested thecentralityof
Chinese developmentsto the historyof accounting.They
chartedthe reasonswhyaccountinghistoryin Chinahas at-
tractedlimitedattentioninthepastandpointedtoan increasing
interestin recentyears.Themesemerging fromentriesin His-
torical
Abstracts,which discuss accounting China,includethe
in
relationshipbetween indigenous accounting, economicdevelop-
mentand westernization. The roleof accounting in publicad-
ministration,economic planning and statecontrol,particularly
intheCommunist era,also appears.A numberofstudiesdiscuss
themannerin whicheconomicdevelopment and reformshave
been frustrated by traditional Chinese accountingpractices.
This featuresin discussionof budgeting and accountingin a
mid-19thcentury navalyard,theinsufficiency ofcostaccount-
in
ing programs ofindustrialgrowth during 1960s,and eco-
the
nomicreforms during the 1980s. One paperrelatestheroleof

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254 Accounting December2005
HistoriansJournal,

theAustralian AuditOfficein training theChinesein modern

audittechniques.
Studieson Chinaalso discussproblematic accountingand
management in publicgranariesfromthemid-17thcentury to
theRevolution of 1911and deficient accounting in provincial
administration duringthelate-19thcentury. Therearealso gen-
eralhistoriesof accounting from200 B.C. to the20thcentury
and particularstudiesofaccounting in Chinesebusinessesdur-
ingthe19thto early-20th centuries.Onepaperutilizesbusiness
accounting recordsfromlateQingChinaand Weberiantheory
toexploretherelationship between bookkeeping andcapitalism.
Another discussesthe accounting recordsof the Britishfirm,
Jardine,Matheson& Co,whichoperatedin Chinafromthelate-
18thcentury.
Intriguing researchhas been conductedon the role of
zhangjiu(accountingshops) on the development of Chinese
banking from the 18th century;accounting prescriptionscon-
tainedin inter-family
contracts foreconomicco-operation dur-
ing the 19th century;accounting in rural cooperatives during
the1920sand 1930s;andtheauditing organizations established
followingthe overthrowof theQingDynasty in 1911.Population
accounting underthe oppressiveregimesof the ManchuDy-
nastyand theordering ofannualauditsofmagistrate activities
during the 18th centuryofferpotentiallyinterestinginsightsto
and
accounting governance.

Japan:Aswellas an increasing presencein thewestern account-

ing historyliterature [Chiba and Cooke,2001],paperson ac-
countingappear Japanesejournalsof businessand socio-
in
economichistory. Studiesofaccounting inparticular businesses
concerntheDutchEast India Company's at Deshima
factories
and Hiradoduringthemid-17thcentury; theHouseofMitsui,a
multidivisional firm,1673-1872;ShengtaiHao Companyin
and
Nagasaki; depreciation accounting in theOnodaCementCo
during thelate-19th and early-20thcenturies. Studiesof finan-
cial reportingand auditingrelatedebatesabouttheuse of the
Britishor continental formsof balancesheetduringthe 19th
century,the establishment ofa BoardofAuditduringthelate-
19thcentury, andtheregulation ofcorporate financialaccount-
ingduring World War II. There are also studiesof tax and ac-
countingduring the 17th to 19th centuries and the systemof
colonialaccounting when
implemented Japangained control of
Taiwanin 1897,Sakhalinin 1905andKoreain 1910.Onepaper

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 255

exploresaccountingmethodsin Japanduringthe early-20th

as revealedintheletters
century, ofan Englisharchitect.
Amongthestudiesof otherAsiancountriesare a number
to India.Theserevealtheroleof accounting
relating in public
intheKingdomofGolcondaduringthe16thand
administration
stateformation
17thcenturies, India,estateman-
inpre-colonial
agementin late-18thcentury Bengal,and themodernization of
financeand budgeting in colonialgovernment duringthemid-
19thcentury. This emphasison publicadministration is also
revealedbya studyofaccounting proceduresintroduced bythe
Governor ofUttarPradeshduringthe 1920sand 1930s.Contri-
butionsalso existon the teachingof accountingin Bengal
schoolsduringthe 19thcentury, and peasantaccounting in a
NorthIndianvillageduringthe19thand20thcenturies.

Peru:The singlemostsignificant locationofstudieson Central

and SouthAmerican subjects contained in thedatabaseis Peru.
Accounting in histories of Peru relate to twoprincipalthemes.
Thefirst oftheseis ethnographic and anthropological studiesof
recordkeeping, counting and taxation by the Incas. The second
concernsaccountingunder Spanish colonial rule fromthe
1530s.Studiesexaminethe RoyalCourtof Accountsin Peru
following theSpanishconquest;thechiefaccountants of Peru;
accounting for tributes extracted from Indians to finance Span-
ish rule;theaccounting systemof theTributeDepartment fol-
lowing administrative reforms during the mid- 18th century; the
auditofTreasury accountsunderSpanishruleduringthe 16th
century;andbiographies ofaccountants involved in colonialad-
ministration during the 17th and 18th centuries. The auditof
municipal finances in Lima during the 18th century also fea-
tures.
Studiesrelating to otherCentraland SouthAmerican loca-
tionstendto concernaccounting underSpanishcolonialadmin-
istration,particularlyduringthe 18thcentury. The problemsof
establishing government accounting procedures in postcolonial
stateshavealso beeninvestigated. Accounting practices on haci-
endasin Venezuelaand Mexicooffer insights to estatemanage-
mentand ruralsociety.Some potentially insightful workhas
beenpublishedon thefollowing: accounting and laborcontrol
in a 17th-century textilefactory in Ecuador;the bookkeeping
practicesofJesuitmissionaries in 17th-century Brazil;account-
ing in Mexican miningduring the 18th century; accounting for
tithecollectionin theArchbishopric ofMexicoduringthe 19th

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256 HistoriansJournal,
Accounting December2005

and cost accountingin the Cuban five-year

century; plan of
1976-1980.Anotherstudyrefersto the contentsof 8,000vol-
umesoftheMainAccounting OfficeinChile,1579-1896.

andAustralasia:
Africa AsTable4 illustrates,
therearecompara-
fewstudiesinHistorical
tively Abstractswhichrelateto account-
inghistoryin Africa.A numberofabstractsreferto researchon
SouthAfrican subjectssuchas accounting and accountantsin
the DutchEast India Companyand accountingpracticesin
Cape Colonyduringthe1830s.Thereare evenfewerstudieson
Australasiansubjectsand thosecitedincludeexamplesof ac-
counting historians venturinginto historyjournals(such as
Carnegieand Potterand and
Craig Jenkins), anddoctoraltheses
by Funnell on stateauditingand Poullaoson theaccountancy
profession.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings of thisstudyindicatetheexistenceof a sub-
stantialliterature on the historyof accounting whichhas re-
ceivedlimitedattention fromaccounting 'historians.
The analy-
sis also reveals that increased interestin the historyof
accounting has notbeenconfined to accounting historians.Like
accounting historians, withan interest
historians in accounting
havetendedto focuson themodernperiodand on European
subjects(thoughthelatterfinding is biasedby thescope and
coverageofthedata sourceforthisproject).The studyreveals
theexistence ofa considerableamountofworkofpotential rel-
evanceto accounting publishedin languagesother
historians
than English.Significant numbersof mainstream historians
pursueresearchwhichinterfaces withaccounting in countries
whichhaveremainedoutsidetheinternational accounting his-
torycommunity. Historianswithan interest in accounting in
EasternandCentral Europe,andCentral andSouthAmerica are
seldomfoundamongthemembership listsof theAcademyof
Accounting Historians.Therealso remainterritories, civiliza-
tionsand culturesin the African, Asianand SouthAmerican
continents whichhavereceivedlittleattention fromanyhistori-
ans withan interest Whilea numberofaccount-
in accounting.
inghistorians havesuccessfullycrossedtheboundaryintothe
history literature,scopeclearlyexistsforfurther movement in
theoppositedirection.
TheanalysisofHistorical Abstractsrevealsa numberofac-
counting-related subjectswhichhavebeenresearched byhisto-

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 in History
Walker:Accounting 257

rians.In additionto the conventional interface betweenac-

countingand businesshistory, we mayadd educational, mili-
tary,transport, medicaland social history. Howevertwo par-
ticularsubjectareas,whichemergefromthis study,deserve
particularsynergetic developmentbetweenaccountingand
otherhistorians. Firstly, the accountinghistoryliterature has
tendedto be dominatedby researchon westernindustrial
economiesand modernity. Historians working outsidethistra-
ditionrevealthepotentialimportance of exploring accounting
in agriculturaleconomies, pre-industrial ruralsocietiesand the
dominant institutionsthereof, suchas thechurch.Secondly, in
almostall thecountries referred to,historianshaveexplored the
role of accountingin governanceand publicadministration.
Studiesrangefromaccounting in Communist totalitarian states
to accounting and theadministration of overseascoloniesand
accounting inprovincial andlocalgovernment.
The foregoing indicatesthatwhilegreaterinclusiveness in
accounting history may be advanced byinternationally oriented
researchagendas,adherence to supradisciplinary approachesto
knowledge production are also desirable.In addition to pursu-
ing the undoubted research for
opportunities advancing knowl-
edge within the specialist home to
field,receptivity insights
fromotherdisciplines offers scopefornotonlychallenging the
'Anglo-Saxon' in
hegemony accounting history, doing in
but so
ways which transcends the potential thereplacement
for ofone
form of spatial-cultural dominance by another. Inter-
disciplinarityalso presentsopportunities to arrestany recent
in
tendency accountinghistory to navel gazing,introspection
and exhaustion byencouraging theimportofregenerative theo-
reticaland methodological insights. Moreover it also offers the
of
prospect exporting accounting historyknowledge to other dis-
ciplineswhereitscontribution remainstobe fully recognized.

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