Suchergebnisse

Historical Developments in the Accountancy Profession, Financial Reporting, and Accounting Theorycontains ten manuscripts authored by C. Richard Baker during an academic career that spans four decades, picking up on various understudied threads of academic and professional initiatives over the past several hundred years.

ABSTRACT
"The Accounting Profession and its Mission Forgotten" is an unpublished manuscript by E. Joe DeMaris (1919–2010). It is reproduced here with an introductory note. DeMaris was one of the more prominent individuals among his generation of accounting academics, administrators, and observers of the accounting profession. The manuscript investigates the development of the accounting profession from the 17th century in Great Britain to the 20th century in the United States. The manuscript was written in 1997 and foreshadows several events of the 21st century, such as the tension arising from the cross-selling of consulting services to audit clients, the auditor capture that brought down Arthur Andersen, and the failure of "trickle-down economics" to bring about economic prosperity for the masses. Contemporary readers will find DeMaris' manuscript pertinent as we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Accounting Historians and consider the role of accounting in the 21st century.
JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48.

ABSTRACT
This article investigates the life and career of Norval Hawkins (1867–1936), a successful accountant at Ford Motor Company and acclaimed author of salesmanship books. He was, however a convicted felon in a Standard Oil embezzlement scheme. The early years of Ford enjoyed phenomenal growth, especially after introduction of the Model T in 1908. Oversight of accounting and sales remained under James Couzens, from the company's inception in 1903, but less is known about the role of accountant and salesman Norval Hawkins, whose contributions included cost and branch accounting systems and a unique dealership structure. Beyond his accounting and sales skills, Hawkins created a popular house publication, the Ford Times, to influence salespeople, customers, and dealers. Ultimately, his style and success irritated founder Henry Ford, and Hawkins was abruptly ousted. Primary archival material from The Henry Ford was retrieved to provide information on Hawkins' years at Ford from 1907 to 1919.
JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48.

This study seeks to provide an account, drawing on previously unexamined archival material, of some of the events surrounding the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) postulates and principles controversy in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We examine these events from the viewpoint of Raymond J. Chambers, one of the most prolific and polarizing figures in accounting academia. The study relies on items of correspondence from the R. J. Chambers Archive and utilizes the term "vicarious action," taken from Actor-Network Theory, to describe Chambers' inability to influence the deliberations on accounting postulates and principles at the AICPA directly, and hence his need to influence the deliberations indirectly through intermediaries such as Maurice Moonitz. Chambers made three separate attempts to vicariously align the AICPA's position on postulates and principles with that of his own, but all three of these attempts proved unsuccessful.

Alvin R. Jennings (1905–1990) was a rare breed of an accountant. He was trained as a practitioner and rose to become a managing partner at Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery, but he kept a constant watch on the academic field of accounting research. Jennings served on the influential American Institute of Accountants' Committee on Auditing Procedure (1946–49) and later as the president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (1957–58). This paper explores these activities and Jennings' contribution to the professional, academic, and institution discourse of the accounting discipline.

"While Chambers provided several bibliographical summaries of his work, without the benefits of reviewing and interspersing the text with correspondence materials from the Chambers Archive this study would lack an appreciation of the impact of his early childhood, and nuances related to his practical (including numerous consultancies) and academic experiences. The 'semi-biographical narrative' codifies article and editorial length exercises by the authors drawing on parts of the archive related to theory development, measurement and communication. Other parts are also examined. This allows us to respond to those critics who claim his reforms were naive. They further reveal a man of theory and practice, whose theoretical ideas were solidly grounded on observations from his myriad interests and experiences. Many of his practical experiences have not been examined previously. This approach and the first book-length biography differentiates this work from earlier analyses of Chambers' contribution to the accounting literature. We provide evidence to support the continued push for the reforms he proposed to accepted accounting thought and practice to ensure accounting is the serviceable technology so admired by Pacioli, Da Vinci and many other Renaissance pioneers. It will be of interest to researchers, educators, practitioners and regulators alike"--