This study presents an historical perspective on mergers and acquisitions by major US accounting firms throughout the twentieth century with special emphasis placed on such activity during the last fifty years of this period. The focus of this perspective is: (1) the importance of mergers and acquisitions in the formation and growth of major accounting firms; (2) the relationship between the internationalisation of trade and the internationalisation of major accounting firms; and (3) the ways in which accounting firms have used mergers as a response to an increasingly competitive environment.
Research has shown that organizations historically have used accounting and financial reporting to gain needed legitimacy for their actions and existence. In the case of non-profit organizations, this legitimacy is critical for they often depend upon external contributions to survive. This article explores how the newly-formed Chicago-based philanthropic Northwestern Sanitary Commission used its financial reports to legitimize its operations as well as to respond to rumors concerning its stewardship of donated funds and supplies from 1861 to 1865 during the US Civil War. This exploration contributes to our understanding of the historical development of non-profit accounting.
A. C. Littleton [1933, pp. 149–151] in Accounting Evolution to 1900 wrote that the sub-division of financial statements and the valuation of assets were two of the most important elements in the development of modern financial statements. The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical evolution of the recognition, grouping, and valuation of current assets on the balance sheet in the United States between 1865 and 1940 at which time the basic format for reporting such assets had been adopted. The paper expands the examination of the balance sheet beyond a traditional emphasis on long-life assets to an investigation of the evolving classification of current assets with a special emphasis on the influence of financial users (especially creditors) for its unique development. Historical illustrations of the ways in which companies presented and valued current assets on the balance sheet are presented.
Abstract. NUCLEONICA is a new nuclear science web portal from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The portal provides a customisable, integrated environment and collaboration platform for the nuclear sciences using the latest internet "Web 2.0" dynamic technology. NUCLEONICA is aimed at professionals, academics and students working with radionuclides in fields as diverse as the life sciences (e.g., biology, medicine, agriculture), the earth sciences (geology, meteorology, environmental science) and the more traditional disciplines such as nuclear power, health physics and radiation protection, nuclear and radio-chemistry, and astrophysics. It is also used as a knowledge management tool to preserve nuclear knowledge built up over many decades by creating modern webbased versions of so-called legacy computer codes.
In most accounting curricula, students enroll in the first accounting information systems (AIS) course after they have completed at least two accounting principle courses and are familiar with accounting fundamentals. However, these courses tend to teach topics as discrete subjects so many students have a poor understanding of how the data they are journalizing actually flow through an AIS. Because they have not previously thought about the concept of a system, most students also have trouble linking material in AIS textbooks to prior learning. To help students relate prior learning to AIS concepts, an in-class activity titled "Dexter Buys a Surfboard" was developed. This in-class activity was combined with a textbook reading and a required reflection paper. Statistical analyses found that the combination of a textbook reading, the in-class project, and a structured reflection paper did positively affect students' perceptions of the importance of learning about AIS. Further analyses found that GPA, accounting-related work experience, and gender were not related to the change in student perceptions, making this pedagogical technique valuable for a variety of student groups.
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