A progressive traditionalist: Sir Edwin Van-Der-Vord Nixon CMG, Accountant, (1876–1955)

Abstract

This article contributes to remedying the paucity of biographical information about Australian luminary accounting figures in the first half of the twentieth-century, a period of enormous change and development in the accounting profession, particularly in relation to its organisational structure, international links, literature, intellectual base, education and role in relation to government in both peace- and war-time. It is argued that no individual luminary is more neglected by biographers, yet deserving of extended biographical treatment, than Sir Edwin Van-der-Vord Nixon, one of the great figures in Australian accounting, whose eponymous firm was a critical antecedent to the present day EY Australia. Nixon’s career spanned the crucially important ‘coming of age’ period in Australian accounting. The key evolutionary developments in Australian accounting that provided the foundation for the modern profession are the backdrop against which Nixon’s lifelong career in accounting can be observed.

Rudimentary capital budgeting for a utopian Italian colony in Australia: Accounting as an advocating device

“…In this context, accounting is confirmed as inextricably embedded in society as proved by the employment of accounting by its smallest unit, the individual. Unlike previous accounting biographies (Carnegie, 2016; Carnegie et al, 2000; Carnegie and Williams, 2001; Cobbin and Burrows, 2020; Cooper, 2008; Parker, 2002; Romeo and McKinney, 2008; Shelton and Jacobs, 2015), Peccenini is not an ‘initiator’ within the accounting profession or academy, rather he aimed at being an ‘initiator’ of social change by advocating a new model of society based on work participation and sense of community. To fulfil his mission, he relied on accounting and calculative practice as an advocating device that can provide credibility and objectivity to a philosophical and political discourse.…”

“…Previous biographies in accounting history have focused on personalities of the past who had connections to the accounting world (Burrows, 2018). The vast majority of these studies investigates individuals who were ‘firsts’ (Shelton and Jacobs, 2015) because they contributed to the development of the accounting profession (Carnegie et al, 2000; Cobbin and Burrows, 2020; Cooper, 2008; Romeo and McKinney, 2008), or contributed to the growth of accounting as an academic discipline (Carnegie, 2016; Carnegie and Williams, 2001; Parker, 2002; Shelton and Jacobs, 2015). With the exception of an historical study about an individual, who used accounting to act as an accountable self and promote a new organisational model in rural credit cooperatives (Masiero, 2020), and the history of the personal accounts of Thomas Jefferson (Baker, 2018), biographies in accounting have rarely focused on personalities of the past who used accounting outside the boundaries of the accounting profession and scholarship (Miller, 1998; Walker and Llewellyn, 2000).…”

“…The micro-level study of accounting has been used in two areas of the studies on accounting practices in new colonial settings of the past. First, several biographies dealt with accounting personalities who fostered the development of the accounting profession in new colonies (Carnegie et al, 2000; Carnegie and Parker, 1996; Carnegie and Varker, 1995; Cobbin and Burrows, 2020; Craig et al, 2004). Second, studies on colonial settlements have relied on individuals as providers of primary sources in the form of personal accounts, writings, letters and diaries, due to the lack of a systematic account keeping in early colonial settlements.…”

“…Accounting history has a long-standing tradition of biographies, which shed light on the life of historically pivotal personalities who contributed to the development of accounting thought and practice (Carnegie, 2016; Carnegie et al, 2000; Carnegie and Parker, 1996; Carnegie and Varker, 1995; Carnegie and Williams, 2001; Cobbin and Burrows, 2020; Cooper, 2008; Craig et al, 2004; Parker, 2002; Romeo and McKinney, 2008; Shelton and Jacobs, 2015). In contrast, biographies of less known personalities in accounting are limited (Craig et al, 2004; Masiero, 2020), and even more so, biographies of ordinary individuals who employed accounting for personal reasons.…”

Enlisting accounting history in the contest between competing visions of accounting systems: Tommaso Zerbi and the origin of double-entry bookkeeping

“…The interest in biographical research in accounting history has grown in recent years (Bisman, 2012), with several scholars documenting the pioneering contributions of accounting practitioners and academics, both at the local and international levels (Burrows, 2019; Carnegie and Parker, 1996; Clarke, 2005; Cobbin and Burrows, 2020; Edwards, 1994; Parker, 2002; Shelton and Jacobs, 2015; Talbot, 2010). Within this field of literature, research on the life and work of renowned accounting historians has focused on several authors, including Anderson (Chandler and Edwards, 2019), De Roover (Blomquist, 1975; Herlihy, 1972; Lapeyre, 1975), Hatfield (Parker, 2002), Hèrnandez (Carmona, 2002), Kojima (Courtis, 1997), Littleton (Bedford and Ziegler, 1975; Zimmermann, 1996), Schumer (Anderson, 2002) and Yamey (Baladouni, 1996; Parker, 1996).…”