The interplay of conceptions of accounting and schools of thought in accounting history

Abstract

Paralleling the advent of different conceptions of accounting in the past two decades or so is the distinction between what are now known as the “traditional” and “new” schools of accounting history research. Viewing accounting as a social practice, as opposed to a mere technical practice, orientates the historical researcher firmly into the arena of the new accounting history, which recognizes the pervasive and enabling characteristics of accounting and gives rise to concerns about studying the implications of accounting change on organizational and social functioning. This literature study examines the interplay of conceptions of accounting with schools of thought in the historical accounting literature. It seeks to enhance an understanding of the underlying connections between the conceptions of accounting embraced by researchers of contemporary accounting and the schools of thought adopted by historical accounting researchers. As the state of play in accounting history research appears to have become a little predictable, certain challenges are identified for accounting historians of the future.

Accounting use and “lack of use” in a religious institution

“…According to the above, and to the aim of the present paper, a brief excursus is presented here on the historical and social background of the investigated case (Gomes, 2008). In this respect, this paragraph regards the historical reconstruction of the Society of Jesus and its Sicilian Colleges in the economic, political and social background of the island.…”

Accounting historians engaging with scholars inside and outside accounting: Issues, opportunities and obstacles

“…For each of these kinds of interactions, we consider that even if the 'New' accounting history (Miller et al, 1991;Napier, 2001) takes a fast-growing role in the international debate in highly ranked journals, 'Traditional' accounting history and its related research methods and output are still dominant in many different domestic contexts, and within journals in different "own country" languages (Gomes, 2008;Gomes et al, 2015). So it may be interesting to verify "how" and "why" the interaction of 'Traditional' accounting historians with other scholars may be successful also for them.…”

“…This is particularly accentuated by the growing call for studying accounting as a social practice (see for example, Burchell et al, 1994;Carnegie and Napier, 1996;Gomes, 2008;Hopwood, 2005;Miller, 1994;Potter, 2005), which significantly expanded the domain of accounting. Within accounting history research, new research topics, research approaches, and the use of different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches drawn from other disciplines, have increased the potentialities and dimensions of the investigations undertaken (Gomes, 2008).…”

The role of government and accounting in the development of academic research commercialization: The New Zealand experience

“…The DSIR received central funding allocations from the government and relied heavily on traditional budgeting as the key accounting mechanism to allocate funding to other public research bodies. Accounting, a technical practice privileged with characteristics of neutrality, objectivity, calculability and usefulness for decision-making (Gomes, 2008;Miller and O'Leary, 1993), enabled both the DSIR and the government to administer and govern in a disciplined manner according to budgeted facts. The budget also served as an important planning and control mechanism and budget allocations helped determine the research agendas and priorities for the DSIR and other government agencies.…”