Accounting History Research Articles

A contemporary view of management accounting, its genesis and evolution: A literature review

The paper analytically examines literature to elucidate the origin and evolution of management accounting buoyed on by the surge in appetite on its use especially during the last two decades. The paper further critically examines the wide critics on the “loss of relevance” of management accounting in enhancing performance explicitly in a modern rapidly changing business environment. A further attempt is made by this paper to better apprehend the concomitant application of traditional and contemporary management accounting practices. It further analysed the current level of appetite on the use of management accounting practices in both developed and developing countries. A critical review of related literature revealed that the history of management accounting can be traced back to the industrial revolution of the 1900s. The study also revealed that management accounting continues to evolve as companies meet new problems that need to be solved and management accounting practices that were used in the early 1900s are still applicable even today. The “loss relevance of management accounting” school of thought was dismissed as traditional MAPs that were used in the 1900s are still applicable even today. The study recommends the use of management accounting as it improves competitive edge and creates value for the organisation.

A Review on New Accounting History and Empirical Research

This research paper provides an explanation of the accounting history. The paper explores how merchants developed a record-keeping system known as the Bollac and traces the stages of accounting development from Mesopotamia in 3500B.C. to the present dayIt also examines Luca Pacioli's important contributions to the advancement of double-entry accounting, for whom he is frequently referred to as the Father of Accounting. The report also highlights the importance of accounting history in the modern world. The research then discusses the opportunities and difficulties that the accounting industry may face as the decade comes to an end. This essay looks into the methods used in historical research and suggests ways to make accounting history more relevant to modern accounting scholars. It explores several connected topics, including organizational history, internal accounting, specialized international accounting history literature, and accounting theory These subjects offer insightful information and resources that enable researchers to delve further into their particular fields of study

Italian accounting history studies in international journals: Insights and possible future directions

Italian accounting history studies have greatly contributed to the international academic debate, thanks both to their scientific quality and to the rich presence in Italy of archives and historical artifacts. This article analyses the growth of the scientific contributions of Italian scholars in international journals, providing insights into future research directions. The study adopts a bibliometric analysis based on the similarity visualisation technique. 145 articles published between 1993 and 2022 are analysed using the VOSviewer software. The findings of the study show a growing number of publications in international journals by Italian scholars, particularly from 2017 (72 articles). The findings also reveal the existence of four main thematic clusters:governmentality, accounting and accountability practices, power and accounting, and cost accounting and institutional theory. Hence, the article aims to map, systematise and deepen these contributions in such a way as to identify the most important research fields, providing insights into the most recent developments of Italian accounting history studies.

Improvised and Self-taught Bookkeeping: Evidence from a WWII Captive’s Diary


 This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature on the issue of the accounting utility not for business reasons but for non-accountants and from the point of view of everyday life financial needs and human survival. In addition, this paper aims to reveal conclusions from the application of accounting by an ordinary essentially illiterate person, including that self-taught accounting is connected to the principles of accounting and modern application experience.
 Applying a qualitative-determinative analysis of a handwritten bookkeeping Diary, revealed that several accepted accounting principles were applied, even instinctively, by the illiterate young person.
 The improvised bookkeeping suggests that basic accounting knowledge derives from the specific needs of the individual and is configured according to specific circumstances of time and place and to the ease of understanding basic accounting theory and skills. The choice to use accounting, and the sanctuary and therapeutic value of accounting as bulwark in the worst possible circumstances reveals another option of social dimension of accounting.
 The accounting application as a means of finding structure and guidance in an unknown world and within a tragic environment helped extremely to turn the young refugee’s disaster to a success story.
 The few pages from the hand-written diary of an ex WWII captive is the quite unique and interesting material this paper is constructed on and consist an undoubtable original documentation, but at the same time the scarcity of the few saved pages comprises the main research limitation.
 The elements considered by an “Illiterate” in the accounting field, most significant, as well as the way in which these principles were registered, should be considered in Accounting Education.
 
 EL Classifications: D030, D100, M490
 Key words: Accounting history, Bookkeeping, Accounting principles, Qualitative analysis

A study on scientific production published in accounting journals in Brazil

The present study analyzes the characteristics of scientific productions related to teaching and research in accounting in Brazil, highlighting the most pertinent themes and their relevance to the evolution of accounting science. A descriptive research was carried out using the database available in Periodicals with classification “A2” to “B3”. In this sense, we sought to identify in this work the state of the art in the light of accounting science on research and teaching, in the period of eleven years. The profile of academic production in teaching was developed on the themes academic performance, perception of students of the Postgraduate Program in Accounting Sciences, Sufficiency Exam, Teaching Accounting Sciences, History of Accounting, Academic Competencies, Accounting Theory, Accounting Profession, Course of Accounting Sciences, Learning Styles, Curriculum Structure and PBL. The topics covered in the accounting research were: Management Accounting, Corporate Governance, Performance Evaluation, Auditing, Controllership, Budget, Cost Management, Management Accounting, Scientific Journal and Costs. The results showed that the journals that received the most publications on the subject studied were: Revista Educação e Pesquisa em Contabilidade and Revista Contemporânea de Contabilidade. Most of the articles are researches that used a quantitative approach, and the most frequent data collection instruments were: Survey/Research and Bibliometric Research, both in teaching and in research in the accounting area.

E. Joe DeMaris on the Accounting Profession and its Forgotten Mission

ABSTRACT “The Accounting Profession and its Mission Forgotten” is an unpublished manuscript by E. Joe DeMaris (1919–2010). It is reproduced here with an introductory note. DeMaris was one of the more prominent individuals among his generation of accounting academics, administrators, and observers of the accounting profession. The manuscript investigates the development of the accounting profession from the 17th century in Great Britain to the 20th century in the United States. The manuscript was written in 1997 and foreshadows several events of the 21st century, such as the tension arising from the cross-selling of consulting services to audit clients, the auditor capture that brought down Arthur Andersen, and the failure of “trickle-down economics” to bring about economic prosperity for the masses. Contemporary readers will find DeMaris’ manuscript pertinent as we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Accounting Historians and consider the role of accounting in the 21st century. JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48.

Pengembangan Sistem Informasi Pemesanan Makanan Berbasis Web pada Rumah Makan Mie Hokkien Akheng

This activity aims to provide broader knowledge, understanding and insight to young people, especially students and employees related to accounting. This activity aims to enable participants to understand the definition of accounting, the history of accounting, the purpose of accounting itself, and have a good understanding of the contents of financial statements so that this knowledge can become a provision in the future when these young people enter the world of work or the world of investment or even become an expert in accounting later. This activity is carried out online through the Google Meet application. The target of this activity is young people aged 17 to 20 years who are in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The number of participants in this activity was 66 participants. This activity took place on Saturday, March 4 2023 and went very well due to good cooperation and coordination from the various parties involved. This activity is expected to be able to contribute and have a positive impact on increasing the knowledge and understanding of participants regarding accounting and can provide broader views and insights for participants

Pengenalan Dasar-Dasar Akuntansi dalam Rangka Peningkatan & Memperluas Wawasan Terkait Akuntansi

This activity aims to provide broader knowledge, understanding and insight to young people, especially students and employees related to accounting. This activity aims to enable participants to understand the definition of accounting, the history of accounting, the purpose of accounting itself, and have a good understanding of the contents of financial statements so that this knowledge can become a provision in the future when these young people enter the world of work or the world of investment or even become an expert in accounting later. This activity is carried out online through the Google Meet application. The target of this activity is young people aged 17 to 20 years who are in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. The number of participants in this activity was 66 participants. This activity took place on Saturday, March 4 2023 and went very well due to good cooperation and coordination from the various parties involved. This activity is expected to be able to contribute and have a positive impact on increasing the knowledge and understanding of participants regarding accounting and can provide broader views and insights for participants

Innovation in accounting historiography: Where to from here?

The world is facing difficult, uncertain and challenging times, which have consequences for accounting practice, education and research. This new and uncertain environment may lead us to conclude that accounting research should focus on the present and develop answers to be implemented in the future. Does this mean that accounting history must be put aside for the moment? We start from the position that accounting history continues to matter and that accounting history researchers have developed their perspectives and methodological and theoretical approaches considerably since the early 1990s in terms of diverse fields and topics of research. This article aims to explore how accounting history research can expand by seeking innovation in theories, sources, methodologies and writing. It demonstrates that accounting history is not static and researchers can contribute to its further recognition and dissemination. Through the innovative study of the past, researchers may continue to contribute to new and informed ways for the world to be managed and governed.

A Review on New Accounting History and Empirical Research

A Review on New Accounting History and Empirical Research

Accounting, slavery and the slave trade: A multi-continental perspective

As in other disciplines, the Atlantic slave-trade and New World slavery have assumed an increasingly contentious role in accounting history. In her Accounting for Slavery, Rosenthal has recently located many current business practices in the nexus between accounting, capitalism and slavery. Other accounting historians have explored slave-trading ventures from Africa, the role of accounting and slavery in New World colonisation, and in accounting and managerial practices in the slave-estates of the Americas. Absent from the extant literature are studies that explore the nexus between accounting, capitalism and slavery from a multi-continental perspective that considers Atlantic slavery as an integrated whole. This study, by drawing on the Trans-Atlantic Slave-trade Database, seeks to fill this gap, examining the correlations between Atlantic slavery and African demographic and social regression, European prosperity and New World accounting and managerial practices. In doing so, it argues that accounting played a fundamentally different role in the slave economy to that which it undertook in emerging systems of industrial capitalism.

The Seeds of Accounting Conservatism

Why does the accounting principle of accounting conservatism persist, despite the criticism of 20th-century deductive accounting theorists? Accounting conservatism's etymology suggests that the traditional connotation of deliberate understatement began in America, circa 1900. Its genealogy, however, reaches much deeper into the past. This research adds to the work of Basu (1997, 2009) who reports evidence of accounting conservatism in medieval Europe and China, and to the work of Bloom (2018) and Watts (2003), who provide modern rationales for accounting conservatism. By using key elements derived from its definition, accounting conservatism's genealogy is traced from ancient times to the 20th century. A review of major works on accounting history and notable articles on accounting conservatism reveals that the seeds of accounting conservatism predate Pacioli, and were sown for largely pragmatic reasons. As long as accounting retains its pragmatic flavor, accounting conservatism will likely survive its critics. It has passed the test of time.

Andrzej Bienieks contribution to accounting education and the literature on cost accounting in Poland in the interwar period

Purpose: The article is related to the scientific edition of Andrzej Bienieks monograph Systematyka kosztw wasnych (Systematics of own costs), which was published originally in 1938. The reprint of this book was published in 2022 as part of the Golden Series of Polish Accounting, promoted by the Main Board of the Accountants Association in Poland. The article describes Bierneks achievements in educating accountants and trade workers, and it examines his contribution to the development of knowledge on cost accounting in Poland in the interwar period.Methodology/approach: The method of historical analysis of Bieeks biographical sources and publications identified during the library query was used, including the authors works available in the POLONA digital library.Findings: Bieniek (18951944), a soldier of the Polish Legions and then the Polish Ar-my, and an activist of the Home Army during World War II, tied his professional life with teaching and developing accounting in theory and practice. In the interwar period, he worked as an accounting teacher at commercial schools in d and Warsaw, and then as an academic teacher at the Warsaw School of Economics. He was the author of about 40 publications of various kinds. In books and articles on accounting in manufacturing companies and in his published doctoral dissertation, he presented and explained the issues of classifying, recording and calculating costs, and cost analysis. In these publications, he built the foundations for the development of cost accounting in Poland for enterprise management.Originality/value: The article broadens the knowledge of the history of accounting in interwar Poland by presenting the didactic and scientific achievements of a researcher and author forgotten after World War II.

Measuring the Importance of Forensic Accounting and The Necessity of Integrating It into Higher Education Curricula

In the specialist field of accounting known as "forensic accounting," financial knowledge is used to look into and settle legal disputes and financial crimes. The need for forensic accounting knowledge has increased in recent years as businesses and organizations are under more pressure to adhere to complicated standards and stop financial wrongdoing. The trend has been affected by a number of factors, including the growth of international trade, the rapid improvement of technology, as well as the threats posed by ransomware. As a result, many businesses now understand the value of having forensic accountants on staff or retainers to aid in the detection and avoidance of financial crime and investigate and resolve legal issues.The significance of forensic accounting is examined in this essay as the requirement that it be included in curricula for higher education. A brief history of forensic accounting is given at the outset, and then a review of the literature on the subject's significance and efficacy in identifying and preventing fraud follows. To do this, research will be done on the economic effects of fraud, the efficiency of forensic accounting in identifying and preventing fraud, and the state of forensic accounting education right now. Then, a survey of accounting professionals is undertaken to acquire information regarding the perceived significance of forensic accounting and the requirement of integrating it into higher education courses. The survey results are analyzed to ascertain the perceived significance of forensic accounting and the necessity for ongoing study in this field. This article will thoroughly evaluate the significance of forensic accounting, the necessity of incorporating it into higher education courses, and the need for ongoing forensic accounting research using the analyzed survey results.

The "Spigolature" (Gleanings) column collects peculiarities on accounting history by short essays / Gino Zappa's patrimonialist period (early period)

The "Spigolature" (Gleanings) column collects peculiarities on accounting history by short essays / Gino Zappa's patrimonialist period (early period)

The musical, cultural and financial life and legacy of Tito Schipa

Introduction: The article, multidimensional and multi-media in scope and sources, represents, from an accounting history perspective, the social, economic and polit-ical events influencing opera theatre and the opera tenor Tito Schipa. Aim of the work: The study presents a social and cultural real accounting-based story, linking accounting, patronage, politics, artistry and heritage, referring to ac-countability in both financial and non-financial terms. Methodological approach: The article uses a qualitative research method explor-ing, from both primary and secondary data, the epiphanies having a significant im-pact on Tito Schipa's personal and professional life. Main findings: The work develops and applies a framework of accountability in the context of opera theatre considering the influences of patronage and Fascism, and represents an example of the effects of economic and political changes on artists and of the relations of power within which accounting is embedded. Originality: The research adopts an exploratory and creative multi-media approach in using oral/aural, financial and private archive sources and it explores the Tito Schipa's life and career, largely unknown, and the related ‘accounting' information.

‘Going concern’ assumption and ‘liquidation’ assumption. The contribution of economia aziendale in historical perspective

The focus of the paper is on the income orientation (versus capital orientation) that proved to be particularly relevant in Italy during the last one hundred years in conjunction with the monetary equilibrium, an axiom of economia aziendale which helps, still nowadays in times of transmodating dynamics, to face and solve many problems, included ‘on going’ and ‘abandon’ decisions.
 Furthermore, the aim of research is to draw attention to the large Italian literature, often internationally unknown, hoping it can contribute to the knowledge of accounting history in different Countries and cultures.
 Throughout one hundred years of economia aziendale it has not been possible to split various periods in which more emphasis is on the assumption of ‘going concern’ or on the assumption of ‘liquidation’, because the different Authors refer systematically and continuously to both hypotheses in a joint economic connection.
 The ‘going concern’ hypothesis is referred to every ‘economic unit’, azienda in Italian literature. The contemporary overall crisis involves accounting statutory regulations and standard setters, debating prospective conditions of concern continuity, which is the economic, financial, monetary, patrimonial and general synergic equilibrium, as well as the connected social, political, anthropological, environmental, sustainability aspects.
 The accent is on income flows magnitudes in order to ‘on going’ or ‘wave’ decision. In this way, also ‘money and credit’ dynamics is interpreted in the aspects of income production, the maintaining of ‘monetary equilibrium’, and the control of capital structure. In this regard the income concept, in different configurations, is a fundamental unavoidable construction, especially economic income, which tends to move the determination to decisions and implementing actions, also in most adverse situations, considering in the decision process all the variables which explicitly reflect the azienda, concern, in its unitary, dynamic, continuum system.
 Hence, the constant control over ‘production conditions’ and also ‘monetary equilibrium’, whose maintenance is through both suitable characteristic production operations and by appropriate financial-monetary operations as well.

The usefulness of accounting information for decision-making purposes in an Italian company from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century

Introduction: Accounting history research on cost accounting theory and practice is still at an early stage in Italy for two main reasons. The first relates to the im-portance that the double-entry bookkeeping technique assumes in Italy, charac-terised by a typical financial focus, and the second to the delay with which Italy en-tered the industrialisation process. Aim: The main aim of this study is to investigate the bookkeeping accounting sys-tems of an established, southern Italian family and long-lived firm, namely Amarelli, still operating in the liquorice industry, from the late nineteenth to the early twen-tieth century to unveil whether accounting information was used by Amarelli man-agers for control and decision-making purposes. Methodological approach: We used document analysis of the reports related to the Amarelli bookkeeping system and semi-structured interviews with one of the present-day owners. Main findings: The findings highlight that the different reports in which Amarelli's bookkeeping system was articulated, and specifically the reports related to Ama-relli's industrial activity, can be regarded as a response to the necessity to calcu-late and control the ‘cost' of the different ‘processes' as well as the specific ‘per-formance' of any single activity of Amarelli, together with the overall ‘perfor-mance' of the Amarelli factory. Originality: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the accounting systems used by a food industry firm in southern Italy, an under-developed territorial area, from an industrialised point of view during 1875-1925.

Accounting research in Spain

Este trabajo aborda el análisis de la literatura contable en España, limitado temporalmente a la segunda mitad del siglo XX y algo más. Después de una introducción, en la cual se plantean los cambios fundamentales ocurridos en esta materia a lo largo del periodo referenciado, el trabajo presenta una primera parte en la que se ofrece una visión concisa de publicaciones sobre teoría de la contabilidad, en general. El siguiente epígrafe acomete cuestiones más especializadas, desde estados financieros consolidados y precios de opciones, hasta el tratamiento de contratos y contabilidad social, cuentas contables así como contabilidad pública. Continúa con el epígrafe dedicado a diversos aspectos de auditoría, y prosigue con temas metodológicos que abarcan desde la axiomatización de la contabilidad hasta la teoría positiva. El siguiente epígrafe cubre el amplio espectro de la contabilidad de costes y de gestión, incluyendo cuestiones conductuales y de medioambiente, así como la utilización de la inteligencia artificial. Las dos secciones siguientes tratan sobre historia de la contabilidad (tema muy aceptado entre los contables españoles) e instituciones, respectivamente, abordando las principales instituciones académicas contables y revistas de España. La gran cantidad de literatura existente nos ha obligado a limitar el espacio destinado incluso a los trabajos más significativos, y a realizar sólo un boceto o una mera clasificación de otras importantes publicaciones, como “ejemplos representativos” de determinadas líneas de investigación.

A concise history of analytical accounting

Este trabajo ofrece una sucinta revisión de los métodos de matemática analítica empleados en teneduría de libros y contabilidad durante los últimos cinco milenios. Sin embargo, el énfasis se centra en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, en el cual el uso de ideas matemáticas, de conceptos formales y de técnicas es cuando verdaderamente floreció. Aparte de un uso creciente del interés compuesto y de los cálculos del valor actual, las últimas se refinaron grandemente con la introducción de variables probabilísticas, de modelos estocásticos, de errores en términos estadísticos (como se encuentran, por ejemplo, en la versión ampliada y perfeccionada de la clean surplus theory). Pero este período (de los últimos 50 años más o menos) comenzó propiamente con modelos contables deterministas (que han probado su valor práctico últimamente en el desarrollo de hojas de cálculo electrónicas y sistemas presupuestarios). Hubo asimismo mucha experimentación con álgebra lineal y no lineal (incluyendo el álgebra matricial) y otras técnicas de investigación operativa, así como en métodos de muestreo estadístico contable que han probado su utilidad particularmente en la auditoría. Con todo, el logro intelectual culminante fue el lento pero impactante desarrollo de las posibilidades de información (information perspective) ofrecidas por la contabilidad (incluyendo información económica, la perfeccionada versión de la clean surplus theory y la teoría matemática de la agencia. Estos esfuerzos han sido resumidos recientemente en la obra en dos volúmenes de Christensen y Feltham (2003, 2005).