Twentieth Century Accounting Thinkers

When originally published in 1994 this volume was the first international review of accounting theory to focus on the contributions of its leading thinkers. Very few attempts had been made, in the accounting literature, to assess the contribution of the theorists who have had such an important influence on the direction of research and practice. Written by experts the studies in this volume provide a unique guide to the development of accounting theory and practice in regions as diverse as the USA, Japan and Europe.

This volume celebrates the 500th anniversary of the appearance of the first published book on double entry bookkeeping, written by the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli, who has been described as 'the father of accounting' and 'the first academic accountant'. It is the first major international review of accounting theory to focus on the contributions of its leading thinkers. Compared with other academic disciplines, very few attempts have been made, in the accounting literature, to assess the contribution of the theorists who have had such an important influence on the direction of research and practice. It is a reflection of the nature of accounting as a practical discipline that each of the thinkers discussed has been concerned to use accounting theory to help solve practical accounting problems. All have helped shape modern accounting practice in a fundamental way. Written by leading experts within their respective countries, the studies in this volume provide a unique guide to the development of current accounting theory and practice in regions as diverse as the USA, Japan and Europe.

This is the first and only book to offer a comprehensive survey of accounting research on a broad international scale for the last two centuries. Its main emphasis is on accounting research in the English, German, Italian, French and Spanish language areas; it also contains chapters dealing with research in Finland, the Netherlands, Scand

This collection of memorial articles and selected obituaries highlights the careers and contributions to accounting practice, the accounting profession, and the accounting literature of leading American figures in the 20th century. The memorial articles do much more than recite their subject’s career. More importantly, they discuss and assess their subject’s role in influencing the course of accounting practice and the profession as well as the evolution of their influential writings, revealing the names of the accounting leaders and leading thinkers of the past century. Memorial Articles for 20th Century American Accounting Leaders is useful in providing students and young researchers with a rich source of intelligence on the leaders who have established norms of practice, advanced the profession, and set the terms of debate in the literature – leaders who are cited and even quoted but who are known mostly as names without a full-bodied treatment of their backgrounds and broader roles in shaping the accounting literature.

This book focuses upon the Institute of Accounts (IA), an organization to which the modern United States accounting profession can trace its roots. The IA was organized in the early 1880s in New York City and, as discussed in this book, attracted a diverse membership that included some of the leading accounting thinkers of the period. The Institute

The gap between the theory and practice of accounting is examined in this text by concentrating on the need for dealing with moral and other normative issues as well as the problem of relating means to ends. Accounting in both Great Britain and the United States is covered.

Accounting carries with its history a vast number of ideas which have slowly developed along with it. This volume relates this history as it took place during the first three decades of the twentieth century in the United States. In particular it deals with those individuals who were for the most part responsible for it. It was these pioneers who recorded their observations of the actual workings of the myriad adaptations and new devices which had slowly eased their way into accounting theory and practice in the USA in the early twentieth century.

This book is a resource book for the comprehensive study of the development of accounting thought. It is designed to facilitate the study of the original works and stimulate further study of important accounting theory forbears. It covers: accounting theory accounting concepts of profit financial accounting and the foundations of accounting measurement accounting evaluation and economic behaviour.