An analysis of the role of a Chief Accountant at Guinness c. 1920–1940

Abstract

Contemporary studies on the role of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) create a picture that a radical change in the 1960s created such a role. Predecessor-positions were more focused on transaction-processing aspects of accounting. While historical accounting publications shed some doubt on this assumption, they lack detail on the roles and tasks of such predecessors in the early parts of the twentieth century. Here, we provide a more in-depth analysis of a chief accountant in the period from 1920 to 1940 at Arthur Guinness, Son & Company Ltd. Informed by concepts from Old Institutional Economics, our evidence suggests that the Chief Accountant at Guinness has much in common with a modern-day role. In contrast, we find that even in the first half of the twentieth century before any substantial company law or regulation of accounting, the Chief Accountant was not only doing accounting, but also significantly advising top management, managing risks and interacting with external financiers. This analysis suggests a more gradual development of the role and tasks of internal accountants than that suggested by some contemporary literature.

Position practices of the present-day CFO: A reflection on historic roles at Guinness, 1920–1945

“…This paper draws on data collected for a more micro-level study of accounting tasks and roles (see Hiebl et al, 2015). It uses records related to the Chief Accountant from the corporate archive of Guinness at the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.…”

“…First, it allows us to explore the role separate from the individual, at least analytically, which is embodied in the objective of this paper. Second, in contrast to Hiebl et al (2015) who draw on the concept of organizational routines, drawing here on position-practices allows us to develop an improved understanding of the emergence of the macro role of a CFO as opposed to the micro routines they carried out. The more macro nature of a role may make our findings more applicable to other studies of the emergence of the present-day CFO.…”

“…In the accounting history literature, some of these approaches have also been used to study accounting change. For example, institutional sociology has been used in historic studies by Carmona, Ezzamel, and Gutierrez (1998) and Núñez (2002); concepts from old institutional economics have been used by, for example Hiebl, Quinn, and Martínez Franco (2015) and Quinn and Jackson (2014). Other accounting history scholars such as Edwards (1992), Edwards and Boyns (1992), Hernández-Esteve (1996) and Carnegie and Napier (2002), have noted more general aspects of change, such as the process of change, change agents and comparative dimensions of change.…”

New public management a re-packaging of extant techniques?

“…Although this issue was resolved in the timeframe explored, it is worth mentioning that Coombs and Edwards (1992) suggest that accountants and municipal officials were involved in delivering accepted accounting practices. Finally, a study by Hiebl et al (2015) is also of interest. While not directly related to the present study, the authors explore a CFO-type role at the Guinness brewery, at a time when the term CFO had not yet been adopted in common use.…”

“…We have made our suggestions based on this single historic case study, utilising a lens of what we now accept as the key elements of NPM in a similar way to the contribution made by Hiebl et al (2015) when discussing the emergence of the term CFO. Thus, we suggest additional historic studies be conducted to either support or challenge our findings, including extending the context beyond Ireland, which is certainty not unique in having semi-state companies.…”