The “accountant” stereotype in the Florentine medieval popular culture: “galantuomini” or usurers?

Abstract

PurposeThis paper explores the stereotype of the accountant in Florentine medieval popular culture based on literary works and from a historical perspective. It aims to highlight how stereotypes change with time and represent the cultural and historical evolution of a society. This research challenges Miley and Read (2012), who stated that the foundation of the stereotype was in Commedia dell'arte, an Italian form of improvisational theatre commenced in the 15th century.Design/methodology/approachThe authors applied a qualitative research method to examine the accountant from a medieval popular culture perspective. The analysis consists of two phases: (1) categorisation of the accountant stereotype based on accounting history literature and (2) thematic analysis of The Divine Comedy (1307–1313) and The Decameron (1348–1351). The authors explored a synchronic perspective of historical investigation through a “cross-author” comparison, identifying Dante Alighieri as the first key author of medieval popular culture. During his imaginary journey through The Divine Comedy, Dante describes the social, political and economic context of the Florentine people of the 14th century. Then, with its various folkloristic elements, The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio becomes the “manifesto” of the popular culture in the Florentine medieval times.FindingsThis study shows the change of the accountant stereotype from the medieval age to the Renaissance. The Divine Comedy mainly connotes a negative accountant stereotype. The 14th century's Florentine gentlemen (“i galantuomini”) are apparently positive characters, with an ordered and clean aspect, but they are accused of being usurers. Dante Alighieri pictures the accountant as a “servant of capitalism”, “dishonest person, excessively fixated with money”, “villain and evil” and “excessively rational”. Giovanni Boccaccio mainly portrays a positive accountant stereotype. The accountant is increasingly more reliable, and this “commercial man” takes a more prestigious role in the society. In The Decameron, the accountant is depicted as a “hero”, “gentleman”, “family-oriented person with a high level of work commitment” and “colourful persona, warm, and emotional”. Overall, the authors provided new evidence on the existence of the accountant stereotype in the Florentine medieval popular.Originality/valueThis study engages with accounting history literature accountants' stereotypes in an unexplored context and time period, providing a base for comparative international research on accounting stereotypes and popular culture. Additionally, it addresses the need for further research on the accountant stereotype based on literary works and from a historical perspective. Therefore, this research also expands the New Accounting History (NAH) literature, focussing on the investigation of the accountant stereotype connotations in the 14th century.

Contextualised accountant stereotypes: understanding their social construction and reconstruction in Chinese society

“…Accounting stereotypes are not new phenomena, despite this relatively recent academic focus on them. Historical accounting researchers have investigated the origin of accounting stereotypes by analysing historical documents such as poems (Carungu and Molinari, 2021), and have noted their source as long in the past. While Miley and Read (2012) argued that the birth of the accountant stereotype goes back to Commedia dell'arte, an Italian form of improvisational theatre that commenced in the fifteenth century, Carungu and Molinari (2021) recently provided new evidence collected from The Divine Comedy (1307–1313) and The Decameron (1348–1351) that suggests that the accountant stereotype originated in the fourteenth century, specifically in medieval Florentine popular culture – even before the official birth of double-entry bookkeeping.…”

“…Such an assertion seems evidenced in the literature, as these stereotypes are diffused into the public domain through diverse means, including newspapers and magazines (Friedman and Lyne, 2001), comics (Christensen and Rocher, 2020), detective stories (Czarniawska, 2012), novels (Evans and Fraser, 2012), literature (Leão et al ., 2019; Carungu and Molinari, 2021), discourses of humour (Bougen, 1994), movies (Beard, 1994; Dimnik and Felton, 2006), jokes (Miley and Read, 2012), songs (Smith and Jacobs, 2011) and cartoons (Jones and Stanton, 2021). All forms have authors who give their own “take” on these stereotypes, but they nevertheless exist within the context of certain times, cultures, events and organisations that influence them.…”

“…Although the factor of accountants' reactions is also considered, the importance of the social-cultural context in the construction of stereotypes dominates this area, as has been highlighted by various scholars (e.g. Bougen, 1994; Friedman and Lyne, 2001; Carungu and Molinari, 2021). Of particular concern here is how this research domain remains dominated by studies focusing on a Western context.…”

“…Of particular concern here is how this research domain remains dominated by studies focusing on a Western context. In fact, most studies are Anglo-Saxon based, though Carungu and Molinari (2021) expanded this domain into a European context. Consequently, we still have little understanding of the development of and happenings with accountant stereotypes in other, non-Western contexts, especially where political and cultural histories and contemporary circumstances are distinct from those of the West.…”

“…Recent research also suggests that accountant stereotypes are not fixed, as the change mirrors broader social, cultural and political contexts. Carungu and Molinari (2021) demonstrated how accountant stereotypes changed in the fifteenth century in Italy. In a more a contemporary example, Jones and Stanton (2021) demonstrated how cartoonists' perceptions of accountants changed before and after the event of accounting scandals in the United States in the 2000s.…”