PurposeThe accountant has been characterised in popular culture as dull and boring. Accounting scholarship consistently describes this stereotype as negative. The purpose of this research is to enhance our understanding of this stereotype by comparing the characterisation of the accountant found in contemporary jokes with a similar characterisation found in commedia dell'arte, which is a form of improvisational theatre.Design/methodology/approachThis research employs netnography to identify the stereotype of the accountant portrayed in jokes on social networking sites. To enrich our understanding of the stereotype of the characterisation of the accountant in contemporary jokes, it is compared with the characterisation of il dottore, the stock character of the professional man in commedia dell'arte.FindingsThe characterisation of the accountant in contemporary jokes is consistent with characterisations of the accountant in other areas of popular culture, confirming that the stereotype is widely entrenched in popular culture. Contemporary jokes provide a more detailed characterisation than previously identified in accounting scholarship. Since the stereotype of il dottore in commedia dell'arte resembles the stereotype of the accountant as portrayed in contemporary jokes, studying commedia dell'arte provides an approach that enhances our understanding of the characterisation of the accountant in popular culture.Originality/valueThe contribution of this research to accounting scholarship is the deployment of commedia dell'arte to capture the essence of the stereotype of the accountant as portrayed in popular culture. Extending the definition of popular culture to include contemporary jokes brings a unique use of netnography to accounting scholarship.

This research considers accounting for post-earthquake recovery in New Zealand. New Zealand’s most devastating earthquakes are considered to be the Murchison earthquake of 1929, the Napier/Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 1931 and the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–11. At the time of the Murchison and Napier earthquakes, government accounting information was an ex post record of expenditure. Contemporary government accounting in New Zealand is accrual based and comprehensive, and so accounting information has played a more prominent role in the management of Christchurch’s earthquake recovery. Apart from evidencing the significant change to government accounting, an historical comparison of accounting in the context of the Murchison and Napier earthquakes vis-à-vis the Christchurch earthquakes indicates the extent of change in the interplay between national and local government in New Zealand. The relationship between national and local government, though legally unchanged, has become more complex, but the financial reports do not reveal this complexity. Through historical analysis the extent of this change is made visible.

The London Foundling Hospital was a charitable institution established to turn children of the poor into virtuous and industrious members of society. Poverty-stricken parents gave their children, known as foundlings, to the hospital which cared for and educated them until they could be placed into employment. Since eighteenth-century Britain stigmatized and marginalized the poor, viewing them as immoral and indigent. An important aspect of the charity's function was (re)creating stigmatized foundling identities so they could leave the hospital as accepted members of mainstream society. This research examines the role of accounting in supporting the hospital's efforts to (re)create stigmatized identities. We examine the plethora of records the hospital maintained about every aspect of the children's lives, which were both mechanisms of surveillance and control and evidence of the hospital's successful efforts in moulding the foundlings into virtuous and industrious members of society. The hospital did not distinguish between financial and non-financial records, ensuring both were regularly reviewed and audited before being made available to selected members of the public. We contrast the public availability of these records, which evidenced hospital (re)created identities, with the hospital's secrecy surrounding tokens, small items given by a parent when hospitalizing a child. We contend that the tokens were a form of accounting record that represented stigmatized identities of the poor and had to be hidden so they could be replaced with (re)created acceptable identities. We conclude that examining accounting records maintained by the hospital provides insights into the role accounting can play in supporting the work of charitable institutions seeking to create social acceptability for stigmatized groups.

No abstract

No abstract

This research champions indigenous voices and epistemes in accounting history. It corrects the hegemony of the coloniser’s voice in the archive and fills the archival vacuum with indigenous voices. This research presents the case of rice accounting in Cambodia. Cambodia was devastated by half a millennium of warfare and coups destroying written archives. The archives of the French coloniser are all that survive. That archive tells the coloniser’s version of rice accounting. To challenge that version of rice accounting, this research examines the story of rice accounting found in a traditional form of Cambodian entertainment: circus performance. Circus performance is a form of archive that captures collective memory, providing an indigenous voice and episteme. This research examines how, in preserving collective memory, traditional forms of entertainment can facilitate a richer understanding of accounting history when the written indigenous archive is impaired, destroyed or has failed to recognise the indigenous voice.

We would like to thank Alan Sangster and Keith Duncan for their personal recollections and knowledge of Radio Caroline, and two anonymous referees and participants at the 8 th Accounting History International Conference for their helpful feedback.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make visible the relationship between accounting and stigma in the absence of accounting. This research examines how failure to implement mandatory accounting and auditing requirements in the management of indigenous wages contributed to stigmatisation of indigenous Australians and led to maladministration and unchecked financial fraud that continued for over 75 years. The accounting failures are by those charged with protecting the financial interests of the indigenous population. Design/methodology/approach An historical and qualitative approach has been used that draws upon archival and contemporary sources. Findings Prior research has examined the nexus between accounting mechanisms and stigma. This research suggests that the absence of accounting mechanisms can also contribute to stigma. Research limitations/implications This research highlights the complex relationship between accounting and stigma, suggesting that it is simplistic to examine the nexus between accounting and stigma without considering the social forces in which stigmatisation occurs. Social implications This research demonstrates decades of failed accounting have contributed to the ongoing social disadvantage of indigenous Australians. The presence of accounting mechanisms cannot eradicate the past, or fix the present, but can create an environment where financial abuse does not occur. Originality/value This research demonstrates that stigma can be exacerbated in the negative space created by failures or absence of accounting.