The hidden history of Benjamin Montgomery: Slave, manager, and accountant

Little is known about the contributions of African-American slaves in the histories of various business domains, including accounting. Some authors attribute this scholarly silence to ideological motives due to race-ethnicity and bigotry. Others note that this paucity reflects not only a lack of data but also an inability to adequately approach the contributions of minorities to the accounting profession. Consequently, there are hidden voices in accounting history that should be explored. One of those voices belongs to Benjamin Thornton Montgomery, a Southern slave who became a plantation manager and owner. Observing Montgomery’s practices through the unique historical lens of the ante-bellum period of the United States, we argue that he should also be acknowledged for his responsibilities as an accountant. Accordingly, we use an analytically structured narrative process to examine the compelling case of Ben Montgomery to inform a more accurate and balanced historical foundation of accounting practice in America.

Accounting for and Accounts of death: Past, present and future possibilities

Despite being an inevitable consequence of living, accounting for and accounts of death are under-researched in the accounting history literature. In this article, we review this literature and find that only a few studies engage beyond a mere reference to death; and even fewer that attempt to account for or provide accounts of death. Those studies that attempt to provide an account fall into two broad categories. First, those that treat death as a transactional phenomenon; and second, those that call for some form of accountability for death, a phenomenon we term necroaccountability. Further, we highlight a third space where accounting and death coalesce in the business of death. Through this process, we identify opportunities to increase our knowledge of accounting and death by understanding the ways in which it has been conceptualised and mobilised in the past.

The interplay between global accounting firms and national institutional contexts: The establishment of the Big Four in China from 1978 to 2007

This paper provides an analysis of the establishment of global accounting firms (the ‘Big Four’) in China between 1978 and 2007. Drawing on the extant literature on professional service firms, and the work of Faulconbridge and Muzio (2015) , this paper examines how the Big Four entered China following the country's ‘Reform and Opening-up’ and evolved from tentative representative offices to established accounting firms in the Chinese audit market. Based on an extensive analysis of archival materials and interviews, the findings of this paper show that the Big Four's establishment in China has been deeply intertwined with the country's socio-political and economic transition. It reveals important conjunctural moments in history that have provided the Big Four with important windows of opportunity to actively shape local institutional change to their own interests. This paper contributes to the extant accounting literature on the expansion of the Big Four in China by highlighting the interplay between their surrounding institutional context and their capacity for agency.

The centrality of ethical utterances within professional narratives

This study examines the centrality of ethics within editorials published in the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ professional journal, CA Magazine, over the 1912 to 2010 period. Starting from the twin assumptions that editorials speak about appropriate professional behavior using a variety of words such as ‘ethics,’ ‘conduct,’ and ‘codes,’ and that appropriate professional behavior is situational, we use topic modeling techniques to identify these dimensions of ethical discourse. We then use social network analysis methods to map the position and centrality of ethics within the editorials across time. The results show that enunciations about appropriate professional conduct are broader than simply enunciations using the word ‘ethics’. The results also highlight that ethical utterances become more central, not less central, over time.

Dissolving the value-price transformation Rubik's cube: A response to Steve Toms’ review of Accounting for Value

Toms disputes the Temporal Single-System Interpretation's claim to have refuted Bortkiewicz’s influential charge that Marx's transformation from values to prices is ‘inconsistent’. This is a claim that Bryer supports with a replacement cost accounting interpretation, which Toms asserts leaves the ‘problem’ an ‘unsolved’ Rubik's cube. This conclusion is seriously misleading, the note argues, which illustrates the dangers from failing to always take the ‘social turn’ in accounting history research.

Accounting as a social practice: US railroad regulation, value of service accounting, and regional economic development

Employing a methodological model proposed by Anthony G. Hopwood and refined by Peter Miller, which emphasizes the role of accounting as a social practice, this study examines how the US Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) accepted the application of the value of service accounting in rate-setting to facilitate the redistribution of income and wealth to the undeveloped economies of the South and West regions of the US.

The Nuances of fair value history: A rejoinder to Cardao-Pito

Cardao-Pito (2020) critically reviewed Donleavy’s (2019) article on the origins of the use of the word ‘fair’ in fair value accounting. This article is a rejoinder to the criticisms in that review.

Internal controls, labour processes and work at the Isthmus Lockstation, Rideau Canal, 1832–1854: Discipline and governmentality at a distance

The emergence of an internal control system to guide operations along the Rideau Canal beginning in 1832 is examined through analysis of a book of directives (the Order Book) maintained by the lockmaster at the Isthmus lockstation. The Orders guided the work of the lockmaster and established general controls and control activities. Orders for adequate documents and records, physical control over assets and records, and proper authorization of activities were common. Orders are seen as efforts by British Royal Engineers, who were geographically removed from the oversight of the Rideau Canal Office, to discipline civilian lockmasters and to encourage lockmasters to govern themselves. Comparing the Order Book to Orders and Regulations in place in 1831 for the Royal Engineers also highlights similarities between expectations of Royal Engineers and those established for the civilian workforce under their direction, indicating a transfer of accounting technologies from the Royal Engineers to the civilian workforce.

The emergence of double-entry bookkeeping in Tuscan firms of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

This study considers developments that led to the introduction and diffusion of double-entry bookkeeping in Tuscany in the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We examine the evolution of the four basic account books (debtors and creditors, cash, merchandise and moveable property), which, together with the capital account, established the basis of the accounting method. We reconstruct the social context of Tuscany to highlight how specific cultural factors, such as risk appetite and entrepreneurial spirit, fostered the creation of companies attentive to organisational modes of work and the valorisation of human capital. These elements, combined with an innate pragmatism of economic operators, produced innovation in the field of accounting as well. Accountants and firm managers were able to establish the double-entry bookkeeping method, which was not the result of abstract rules but rather of gradual evolution. Accounting systems can thus be considered as reflections of the society and the organisations in which they developed and spread.

Accounting and work relationships in an eighteenth-century Italian household

In elaborating on accounting and work, this study focuses on the distinctive arena of the household to uncover details regarding how relationships with paid subordinates were managed in the eighteenth century. To delve more deeply into the topic, this article focuses on the case of Silvia Rabatta, a widow in a noble family living in Friuli (Italy). Drawing on primary archival sources, this study shows that Silvia managed work relationships with her subordinates like business relationships, instrumental in nature and based on contractual agreements. However, her emotional attachment and attention to the subordinates’ wellbeing were also evident in the accounting books and correspondence of this Friulian noblewoman.