Benign sacerdotalist or pious assailant. The rise of the professional accountant in British management

Abstract

Matthews et al.'s The Priesthood of Industry [ Matthews, D., Anderson, M., & Edwards, J.R. (1998). The preisthood of industry. The rise of the professional accountant in British management. Oxford: Oxford University Press] charts the encroachment of professional accountants into the realms of management in Britain. It is suggested in this review essay that the brand of economic determinism employed by the authors offers a partial explanation for that fundamental occupational shift. The functionalist and evolutionary foundation of Matthews et al.'s analysis invite a more critical interpretation of the accountants' stratagem. A reading of The Priesthood of Industry also indicates several issues which require the attention of accounting historians. Among these are the shifting character of the professional ideology; responses to entrepeneurialism; the social derivation of professionals; the manner of jurisdictional capture; a fuller understanding of the inter-war climacteric; and the contribution or otherwise of accountants to British economic decline.