The development of accounting regulation, education, and literature in Australia, 1788-2005
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Economic History Review Vol. 49, no. 3 (2009), p. 276-301
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Accounting involves the recording of events, the preparation and reporting of results and is a key medium in discharging accountability. It pervades organisations and institutions in every country and is a key element of the business fabric and economic development of any nation. This study examines the development of accounting regulation, education, and literature in Australia across five key phases of European settlement from 1788 to 2005 and presents an overview of the major historical trends in each of these periods. The development of accounting and the profession is intimately linked with significant economic development in Australia over 200 years.
- Description: 2003007341
Understanding the dynamics of the Australian accounting profession : A prosopographical study of the founding members of the Incorporated Institute of Accountants, Victoria, 1886 to 1908
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Edwards, John , West, Brian
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 16, no. 5 (2003), p. 790-820
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Numerous studies have examined the institutional setting of accounting as a professional occupation. However, institutional deeds and outcomes derive from the behaviour of individual actors, particularly those key players who drive the creation, policy development and outlook of practitioner associations. Recognising this, and in search of a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of professional formation, this study applies the prosopographical method of inquiry to accounting development in Australia during the period 1886 to 1908. Motives and actions are identified with the founding members of the Incorporated Institute of Accountants, Victoria, during this formative era, which saw key personalities transfer their allegiance to the Australasian Corporation of Public Accountants. The beliefs, preferences and ambitions of individual participants are shown to exert significant influence over the process of professional formation, highlighting the capacity of prosopographical studies to augment the predominantly vocational and institutional focus of the prior sociology of professions literature.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000616
The development of the specialist accounting history literature in the English language : An analysis by gender
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Potter, Brad , McWatters, Cheryl
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 16, no. 2 (2003), p. 186-207
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This study focusses on the participation of women in the development of the specialist international accounting history literature. Based on an examination of the three specialist, internationally refereed, accounting history journals in the English language from the time of first publication in each case to the year 2000, the study provides evidence of the involvement of women through publication and also through their membership of editorial boards and editorial advisory boards. In doing so, the study builds on the earlier work of Carnegie and Potter in 2000 and aims to augment our understanding of publishing patterns in the specialist international accounting history literature.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003002507
Household accounting in Australia : Prescription and practice from the 1820s to the 1960s
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Walker, Stephen
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 20, no. 1 (2007), p. 41-73
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose - Beyond the public world of work, the home provides an arena for examining accounting and gender in everyday life. This study aims to examine household accounting in Australia from the early nineteenth to around the mid-twentieth century. Design/methodology/approach - The study comprises two parts. The first part, as reported in this paper, presents evidence on household accounting as prescribed in the didactic literature in Australia, and evidence of actual accounting practices based on the examination of 76 sets of surviving Australian household records available in public repositories. The second part adopts a microhistorical approach involving the detailed scrutiny of 18 sets of accounting records and relevant biographical and family data on the household accountants involved. Findings - The study indicates that household accounting was an instrument for restraining female consumption, particularly during times of crises, and that accounting in Australian homes focussed on maintaining records of routine transactions as opposed to the preparation of budgets and financial statements. Household accounting in Australia was performed by women and men. The surviving records examined suggest that while areas of financial responsibility were defined by gender there was little evidence of formalised hierarchical accountability between spouses as has been found to be the case in Britain. Originality/value - The study extends knowledge of household accounting and gender. Most historical investigations on this subject draw on instructional literature. The current investigation also examines accounting practice in the home. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005179
Household accounting in Australia : A microhistorical study
- Authors: Carnegie, Garry , Walker, Stephen
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal Vol. 20, no. 2 (2007), p. 210-236
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to extend the work of Carnegie and Walker and report the results of Part 2 of their study on household accounting in Australia during the period from the 1820s to the 1960s. Design/methodology/ approach - The study adopts a microhistorical approach involving a detailed examination of actual accounting practices in the Australian home based on 18 sets of surviving household records identified as exemplars and supplemented by other sources which permit their contextualisation and interpretation. Findings - The findings point to considerable variety in the accounting practices pursued by individuals and families. Household accounting in Australia was undertaken by both women and men of the middle and landed classes whose surviving household accounts were generally found to comprise one element of diverse and comprehensive personal record keeping systems. The findings indicate points of convergence and divergence in relation to the contemporary prescriptive literature and practice. Originality/value - The paper reflects on the implications of the findings for the notion of the household as a unit of consumption as opposed to production, gender differences in accounting practice and financial responsibility, the relationship between changes in the life course and the commencement and cessation of household accounting, and the relationship between domestic accounting practice and social class. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003005180
Does accounting history matter?
- Authors: Gomes, Delfina , Carnegie, Garry , Napier, Christopher , Parker, Lee , West, Brian
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 16, no. 4 (2011), p. 389-402
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Building upon panel discussion held at the sixth Accounting History International Conference, a resounding "yes" is offered in response to the question of whether accounting history matters. However, reflecting the viewpoint that accounting history can and should matter more, various suggestions are presented for advancing the quality, relevance and significance of historical research in accounting, commencing with the need to redress persistent misconceptions about the discipline. Practical strategies for enhancing the impact of accounting history scholarship are then developed around the themes of promoting its contemporary relevance and implications, fostering engagement with diverse groups of scholars, writing accounting history in informative and engaging ways, and articulating and developing appropriate methodologies. Finally, the role of accounting historians as "change agents" is explored and advocated. © The Author(s) 2011.
The life and thought of Robert Keith Yorston: An advocate for accounting reform
- Authors: Anderson, Ray , Gaffikin, Michael , Singh, Geeta
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 19, no. 4 (November 2014), p. 533-556
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Sir Robert Keith Yorston (1902-1983) was an Australian business educator and practitioner. He was a prolific author whose textbooks were adopted by the professional bodies, technical colleges and universities both in Australia and New Zealand. A large part of Yorston's career was devoted to the Australian Accountancy College. Yorston was at the forefront of the professional dialogue on the quality of financial reporting in Australia. He also advocated improvements in matters of corporate governance including gender equality and employee reporting. It is argued that many of Yorston's ideas were ahead of their time, and there is a need for an awareness of his contribution to accounting thought and practice. This article is an acknowledgement of Yorston's endeavours. It recognizes his contribution to accounting education, the profession and the wider community. In so doing, it traces an important chapter in the history of accounting education and practice in Australia.
Enhancing the accessibility of accounting and business archives: The role of technology in informing research in accounting and business
- Authors: Cobbin, Phillip , Dean, Graeme , Esslemont, Cameron , Ferguson, Patrick , Keneley, Monica , Potter, Brad , West, Brian
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Abacus-a Journal of Accounting Finance and Business Studies Vol. 49, no. 3 (September 2013), p. 396-422
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The application of advanced digitization technologies to accounting and business archives has created new opportunities for accounting and business historians. The joint American Accounting Association and European Accounting Association Task Force (2006-2010) that examined digitization confirmed this. This paper explores these opportunities, along with some attendant challenges and cautions, with reference to the digitization of two significant archives located in Australia. The first is the archive of CPA Australia, a professional accounting association that has its beginnings in 1886 and which today has over 132,000 members. The second is the archive accumulated by the pre-eminent accounting scholar Raymond Chambers during his long and extraordinarily productive tenure at the University of Sydney. Studies of surviving business records, biography and institutional history provide examples of scholarship that is enabled by digitization technology and which has the capacity to inform contemporary issues and debates.
- Description: C1
Accounting and the history of the everyday life of captains, sailors and common seamen in eighteenth-century Portuguese slave trading
- Authors: Pinto, Ofelia , West, Brian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 22, no. 3 (2017), p. 320-347
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This archive-based case study uses accounting and related records to uncover details of the everyday life of the captains, sailors and seamen who manned the ships that allowed Portuguese slave trading to flourish during the eighteenth century. By elaborating the lives of the crews of the ships of the Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão, a Portuguese chartered company created in 1755 for the express purpose of slave trading, the study contributes to a growing body of literature that uses accounting documents as a source of social history and enables previously silent voices to be heard. Furthermore, the study brings together two notions which have previously remained separated in the accounting history literature: the everyday lives of participants within the setting of a ‘dark’ episode of human history. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
Accounting, slavery and social history : The legacy of an eighteenth-century Portuguese chartered company
- Authors: Pinto, Ofelia , West, Brian
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 22, no. 2 (2017), p. 141-166
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Based on extensive archival research, this study documents and analyses the accounting techniques that the Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão applied to its slave trading operations during the second half of the eighteenth century. The surviving accounting records of this Portuguese chartered company reveal – in meticulous detail – the integral role that accounting technology played in enabling the slave trade to flourish. However, and paradoxically, while evidencing this culpability the same accounting records also document the essential humanity of the slaves and preserve details of the bleak circumstances of their existence. Slaves are typically lamented as a lost people consigned to a tragic and an eternal anonymity, but it is from accounting records that many aspects of their lives can be reconstructed. In this way, the accounting records studied are also shown to provide a latent source of social history that constitutes a profound mea culpa. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
Accounting and Slavery: the case of Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão (1755-1778)
- Authors: Pinto, Ofelia
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Contrary to the traditional view of accounting as a neutral technical practice, recent studies have increasingly viewed this technology as being social and institutional in both its orientation and effects. An important outcome of these portrayals of accounting’s decisive influence within organisations and broader contexts has been to highlight the enabling role it has played within significant historical events. This has included exploration of what has been termed the “dark side” of accounting: abhorrent episodes from human history in which accounting has been implicated. Slavery is one such episode. Adopting the conception of accounting as a social and institutional practice, this interpretative historical study applies the concept of “action at a distance” and previous literature on the interrelations between accounting and the state as a conceptual framework to critically analyse the accounting practices that were developed and adopted by the Companhia Geral do Grão Pará e Maranhão, a Portuguese company established primarily for the purpose of trading in human beings (slaves) in the second half of the 18th century. As well as providing a novel addition to the literature dealing with the “dark side” of accounting, this archive-based case study also sheds further light on accounting’s potential to act as a powerful agent of social change, including its facilitation of episodes of human misery.
- Description: Doctor of Philsophy
Accounting professionalisation and occupational context: The role of the public accounting profession in China
- Authors: Yee, Helen , West, Brian
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 6th Asia Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference: Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting (APIRA 2010) p. 1-28
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- Reviewed:
- Description: While applied broadly within the setting of accounting and some other occupations, ‘profession’ is a particularly Western concept with peculiarly British origins. However, the significance of such status and the process by which it is acquired has defied precise explication. Examination of the sociology of the accounting occupation within non- Western locations can contribute to exposing and clarifying these problematic and contingent aspects of occupational stratification, as well as assist in redressing the bias towards English-speaking and European countries within the accounting history literature. Proceeding from these theoretical premises, a historical study of the accounting occupation within China is undertaken. Integrating episodes from this country into the broader historical narrative of the professionalisation of accounting reinforces – often vividly – that accountants’ work status is not bound to an innate and predetermined trajectory. Rather, the variety of localised and time-specific variables which constitute the occupational context are shown to exert a dominating influence.
Failure to unify Australia’s leading accounting professional bodies
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , Stevenson-Clarke, Peta , Joshi, Mahesh , Halabi, Abdel
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Management History Vol. 26, no. 4 (2020), p. 491-514
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- Description: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical account of four unsuccessful merger attempts between Australia’s two major professional accounting bodies over a 30-year period (1969 to 1998), each of which ultimately failed. An analysis of the commonalities and differences across the four attempts is provided and social identity theory is used to explain the differences between members level of support for these merger bids. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a qualitative approach using a historical research methodology to source surviving business records from public archives and other data gathered from oral history interviews. Findings: The study found that, across all four merger attempts between Australia’s two professional accounting bodies, there was strong support from society members (the perceived lower-status group) and opposition exhibited by institute members (the perceived higher-status group). This study also found that the perceived higher-status organisation always initiated merger discussions, while its members rejected the proposals in the members’ vote. Research limitations/implications: This paper focusses on the Australian accounting profession, considering a historical account of merger attempts. Further research is required that includes interviews and surveys of those involved in making decisions regarding merger attempts. Originality/value: This paper is the first to examine in detail these four unsuccessful merger attempts between the largest accounting organisations in Australia. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.