A theoretical primer for evaluating and conducting historical research in accounting

Abstract

Historical research in accounting is flourishing as prestigious journals worldwide encourage authors to incorporate history into their submissions. Although a number of accounting academics are aware of these opportunities, others may be reluctant to participate because they lack an understanding of the rudiments of historical scholarship. This paper is geared to those scholars who seek to write about accounting's past but are unacquainted with historical methods, unsure how to begin, and generally unfamiliar with the debates that are now taking place in the field. In this paper we discuss the formal theoretical structures of history as a discipline; differentiate history as event, story, and way of knowing; consider the problem of historical facticity and the subjectivity of the historian; examine the role historical evidence plays in the reconstruction of the past, and identify the forms of historical construction and alternate historical methods. We also distinguish between history and social science and summarise the current debate between conventional and critical accounting historians. Publication possibilities are also addressed.

Institutional Pressures, Monopolistic Conditions and the Implementation of Early Cost Management Practices: The Case of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (1820–1887)

“…Contributions of the three camps addressing the emergence of cost accounting practices in organizations provide many perceptive insights into the underpinnings of such early practices (e.g., Loft, 1995;Fleischman et al, 1996). First, accounting historians of the neoclassical economics school contend that increasing competition during the Industrial Revolution slashed profit margins of companies, and this in turn galvanized a greater concern of managers about cost issues.…”

A Modern Look At The Banco De’ Medici: Governance And Accountability Systems

“…Drawing on existing literature (Carnegie and Napier, 1996;Fleischman, 1996;Merino & Mayper, 1993;Parker, 1999;Zan, 1994), the aim of this paper is to analyse the Banco de' Medici's accounting system and its organizational structure over a century, from 1397 -when the Banco de' Medici was established by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medicito 1494, when the Medici family had to leave Florence for political reasons. Due to the scarce availability of usable primary sources and the difficulty in interpreting documents written in Ancient Italian (Bracci et al, 2010;Mari and Picciaia, 2014), this period, which saw some of the most important developments in the history of accounting, has not been sufficiently explored and deserves to be further investigated (Carnegie and Napier, 1996).…”

The Rise and Fall of Comprehensive Accounting Theories: R. J. Chambers and Continuously Contemporary Accounting

“…The Foucauldian (e.g., Hoskin & Macve, 1986;Miller & O'Leary, 1987), Marxist (e.g., Armstrong, 1987;Bryer, 2005;Tinker, 1985), and most recently Latourian (e.g., Miller, 1990;Robson, 1991) traditions have perhaps been the most popular of these theoretical lenses. The disagreement between traditional and new accounting historians has led several authors to examine and try to mend the gap between the two approaches before it becomes too divisive and a potential hindrance to historical and scientific progress (e.g., see Carnegie & Napier, 1996;Fleischman, Mills, & Tyson, 1996;Funnell, 1996), whereas some authors contend that the gap between the two approaches is too wide to bridge (e.g., Gaffikin, 2011).…”