bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACCOUNTING HISTORY AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Authors: Merino Barbara D. , Mayper Alan G.
Published: June 2017

This paper examines historical methodology and suggests ways accounting history may be made more relevant to contemporary accounting researchers. First there is a brief discussion of the “traditional” accounting history method, the documentary model, and an examination of history methodologies that offer alternatives modes of inquiry. This includes the pattern model and rhetorical analysis. This discussion is brief and focused on only issues examined in subsequent discussion of the empirical research. The discussion of the empirical research, including behavioral research, focuses on three issues: retrodiction, with examples concerning securities legislation; belief transference, with examples concerning the demand for auditing; and methodological transference, with examples from the behavioral literature including a discussion of the importance of historical context and sensitivity. The objectives are [1] to show how all researchers need to tell more plausible stories and how historical analyses can clarify and enhance understanding of the complex environment in which accountants function, [2] to suggest fruitful areas for future accounting historical/empirical/behavioral research and [3] to issue a call for diversity, tolerance, and a free exchange of ideas—stressing these as values that cannot be separated from accountants' research activity.
THE USE OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION IN GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: THE IMPACT OF JOHN R. COMMONS AND EARLY INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMISTS
Authors: Covaleski Mark A. , Dirsmith Mark W. , Samuel Sajay
Published: June 2017

This paper examines the socio-political process by which an ensemble of such calculative practices and techniques as accounting came to be developed, adopted, and justified within turn-of-the-century public administration. We are particularly concerned with examining the influence of John R. Commons and other early institutional economists during this Progressive era. Using primary and secondary archival materials, our purpose is to make three main contributions to the literature. First, the paper explores Commons' contribution to the debates over “value” which seems to be somewhat unique in that he explicitly recognized that there exists no unproblematic, intrinsic measure of value, but rather that it must be socially constituted as “reasonable” with reference to common law. To illustrate this point, this paper explores Commons' role in the historical development and implementation of rate of return regulation for utilities. Second, the paper describes the contradictory role accounting played during this period in ostensibly fostering administrative objectivity while accommodating a more pragmatic rhetoric of “realpolitik” in its development and deployment. The third contribution is to establish a linkage between current work in economics and accounting concerned with utility regulation and the debates of ninety years ago, noting that Commons' contribution has not been fully explored or recognized within the accounting literature.
THE 1826 CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF FACILITIES AT THE PENSACOLA NAVAL STATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH USING AGENCY THEORY
Authors: Gray O. Ronald , Calvasina Richard V.
Published: June 2017

This contract dispute enhances our understanding of agency relationships and fosters greater recognition of the limitations and hazards of historical research using an agency literature framework. The accounting records, related memoranda, and reports submitted also provide insight into the nature and character of early defense contract accounting and relationships between these contractors and the government. Difficulties confronted by the Navy in securing a contractor; contract terms; civilian contractor's project accounting records, related memoranda, and correspondence with naval authorities are reviewed. The post-contract correspondence provides insight into how early 19th century government contractors attempted to resolve disputes with the government.
THE EARNED INCOME CREDIT: HISTORICAL PREDECESSORS AND CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTION
Authors: Cataldo A.J.
Published: June 2017

The Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 (RRA93) significantly expanded the earned income credit (EIC), which was changed to include low-income taxpayers without dependents. Evolving, most directly, from the “workfare” plan (1972) proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Russel B. Long, and in response to President Nixon's Family Assistance Program (FAP), the post-1974 EIC was not the first of its kind. It had two predecessors.

The EIC of 1923 through 1931 benefitted taxpayers with or without dependents and excluded any “workfare” feature. A second EIC, in name only, was in effect for the 1934 through 1943 tax years.

This paper develops a historical framework for study of the post-1974 EIC. This framework necessarily precedes any investigation of contemporary issues relating to the twenty-year history of the post-1974 EIC which, unlike its first predecessor, appears destined to continue as a permanent, expanding mechanism for the delivery of basic subsistence to the “working poor.” The resolution of these contemporary issues will determine whether the post-1974 EIC is destined to replace or continue to co-exist with a (presumably) more costly welfare delivery system.
TOWARDS AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF ACCOUNTING CHANGE IN THE ROYAL TOBACCO FACTORY OF SEVILLE
Authors: Carmona Salvador , Ezzamel Mahmoud , Gutiérrez Fernando
Published: June 2017

This paper is initially informed by an institutional sociological framework to analyze changes in accounting practices that took place in the Royal Tobacco Factory (RTF) of Seville during the period 1760–1790. We argue that the significantly greater development and use of accounting practices during that period can be linked to the move to the much larger and more purposefully built new factories, the decline in total tobacco consumption, and the pressure to increase revenue for the Spanish Crown while reducing production cost and maintaining high product quality to deter entry. These new accounting practices were developed in part with the intent of improving factory efficiency, but importantly, they enhanced the external legitimacy of the RTF in the face of the events mentioned above and contributed to the long survival of the RTF as a monopolist.
FROM ACCOUNTING TO NEGATIVE NUMBERS: A SIGNAL CONTRIBUTION OF MEDIEVAL INDIA TO MATHEMATICS
Authors: Mattessich Richard
Published: June 2017

The major object of this paper is to present evidence for arguing that the highly developed Hindu accounting tradition, beginning with Kautilya's Arthaśãstra about 300 b.c., or even earlier, may have had a part in the more receptive attitude of medieval Indian mathematicians, compared to Europeans, in accepting negative numbers. The Hindus justified this attitude by arguing that having a debt is the inverse of possessing an asset; thus, attributing a negative number to a debt but a positive one to an asset. To advance the argument, the paper shows that the accounting aspect of debt is at least as basic as its legalistic one. Indeed, the former can be traced to the 4th millennium b.c. or earlier, while the first known legal codes go back only to the 3rd millennium b.c. However, there are other angles from which to examine the relation between accounting and negative numbers. Some accountants [e.g., Peters and Emery, 1978] believe that the long-standing hesitation of European mathematicians to accept negative numbers contributed to the accountants' debit/credit scheme, while others [e.g, Scorgie, 1989] deny this view. But this controversy concerns rather the influence of negative numbers upon accounting. It neglects to investigate the reverse possibility; namely, the influence of accounting upon the Indian mathematicians' early acceptance of negative numbers. Thus, this paper first reviews concisely, for the sake of contrast, the arguments between Peters and Emery [1978] and Scorgie [1989]; then it elaborates on the long-standing resistance of Western mathematicians to legitimizing negative numbers (which, in its entirety, did not happen before the 19th century); and, finally, it discusses the very different attitude of medieval Indian mathematicians, who were the first to accept negative magnitudes as numbers (e.g., Brahmagupta, 7th century A.D., Bhaskara, 12th century A.D.). Their interpretation of a negative number as representing “debt” as a basic accounting and legal notion may have been conditioned by the longstanding accounting tradition of India since the 3rd century b.c. or before.
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING AT THE HISTORICAL HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY: A COMPARISON TO 20TH CENTURY PRACTICES
Authors: Spraakman Gary P.
Published: June 2017

Using an environmental contingency approach, Johnson and Kaplan [1987] argued that virtually all management accounting practices used at the time of their study had been developed by 1925 in response to increased uncertainty caused by geographical expansion and large-scale operations. During the 1821 to 1860 subperiod, the Hudson's Bay Company had significant uncertainty which was largely a result of the dynamic environment of its fur-trade operation. Consequently, it should have developed management accounting practices in response to uncertainty. Moreover, the management accounting practices should have been less extensive in the subperiods before and after 1821 to 1860, as these subperiods had less uncertainty. The Company's accounting and related records were examined for 1670 to 1914, and provided evidence to support the contention of Johnson and Kaplan that management accounting practices evolved positively with uncertainty.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN THE UNITED STATES
Authors: Zeff Stephen A.
Published: June 2017

Institutional efforts in the U.S. to develop a conceptual framework for business enterprises can be traced to the Paton and Littleton monograph in 1940 and later to the two Accounting Research Studies by Moonitz and Sprouse in 1962–1963. A committee of the American Accounting Association issued an influential report in which it advocated a “decision usefulness” approach in 1966, which was carried forward in 1973 by the report of the American Institute of CPAs' Trueblood Committee. All of this laid the groundwork for the conceptual framework project of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which published six concepts statements between 1978 and 1985. A seventh concepts statement is likely to be published in 2000. It is still not clear how the FASB's conceptual framework has influenced the setting of accounting standards, and some academic commentators are skeptical of the usefulness of all normative conceptual framework projects.
ACCOUNTING HISTORY AND THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES: A RESPONSE TO “KNOWING MORE AS KNOWING LESS? . . . ”
Authors: Tyson Thomas N.
Published: June 2017

Hoskin and Macve (H&M) continue to accredit certain events in the early 1840s as enabling the creation of norm-based accounting and its use to control labor and improve productivity at the Springfield Armory (SA). Although critics have refuted H&M's interpretation of these events and reproached their use of inflated language, H&M maintain their unique perspective with undiminished fervor. This rejoinder further questions the validity of H&M's perspective of U.S. accounting history. It identifies the many conventional business historians who refute it and emphasizes that no other evidence has been presented to indicate that norm-based accounting was ever employed in the U.S. before the early 1900s. It also describes how H&M have tried to bolster their position by citing several contemporary and more critical scholars who in fact refute it. More substantively, the paper emphasizes that the core debate between H&M and their critics is not simply over the timing of particular events at SA. Rather, it centers on the nature of historical evidence and the distinction between history and historicism.
PUBLISHING PATTERNS IN SPECIALIST ACCOUNTING HISTORY JOURNALS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 1996–1999
Authors: Carnegie Garry D. , Potter Brad N.
Published: June 2017

While accounting researchers have explored international publishing patterns in the accounting literature generally, little is known about recent contributions to the specialist international accounting history journals. Specifically, this study surveys publishing patterns in the three specialist, internationally refereed, accounting history journals in the English language during the period 1996 to 1999. The survey covers 149 contributions in total and provides empirical evidence on the location of their authors, the subject country or region in each investigation, and the time span of each study. It also classifies the literature examined based on the literature classification framework provided by Carnegie and Napier [1996].
ACCOUNTABILITY AND RHETORIC DURING A CRISIS: WALT DISNEY'S 1940 LETTER TO STOCKHOLDERS
Authors: Amernic Joel H. , Craig Russell J.
Published: June 2017

In 1940, Walt Disney was faced with crafting a message of corporate accountability under duress. His company, the product of his creative genius, had been forced to submit to public accountability. It had a pressing need to raise preferred equity finance for a major expansion during a period of market uncertainty, war, and reported losses. This paper conducts a “close reading” of the “Letter to Stockholders” in Walt Disney Productions' 1940 annual report, the first such letter signed by Walt Disney. The letter's rhetorical features, including metaphor and ideology, are examined in the context of the times. What is revealed is an accountability document skillfully crafted with the exigencies faced by Disney's company firmly in mind. The letter offers suggestive insight to the world as Disney made sense of it. The paper contributes to understanding the use of rhetoric by top management in activities related to aspects of financial accountability and reporting. It also helps to understand better a significant public persona of the 20th century, Walt Disney.
THE LADY AND THE ACCOUNTS: MISSING FROM ACCOUNTING HISTORY?
Authors: Kirkham Linda M. , Loft Anne
Published: June 2017

Amanda Vickery's, The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England, [1998] provides a challenging and controversial account of the lives of genteel women in provincial England. In this review essay, we consider the implications of her insights and revelations for accounting history research. We argue that her work raises a number of issues concerning what and where accounting took place in the 18th century. In particular, it is suggested that the detailed ‘accounts’ contained within genteel women's pocket books were a means by which they came to ‘know’ their household in order to manage their duties and responsibilities. Accounting historians are encouraged to consider these ‘private’ records as a potentially illuminating source of material on accounting within and without the 18th-century household.
THE CANADIAN AUDIT MARKET IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Authors: Richardson Alan J.
Published: June 2017

This paper explores the structure of the Canadian audit market between 1901 and 1941 based on a sample of 3661 financial statements from 956 firms. Two aspects of the market are examined: first, the overall degree of market concentration, and second, the existence of market segmentation. In addition, a specific concern of the paper is to analyse competition between domestic accounting firms and the international accounting firms leading to the merger of major independent Canadian firms with international accounting firm networks after World War Two. The data show a pattern of increasing concentration during the period among a small set of domestic and international firms. The data identify both a national market and a series of regional markets for audit services. There is also evidence of market segmentation by industry and stock exchange listing. Overall, the evidence suggests that the early Canadian audit market was competitive but fragmented into a series of niche markets. Domestic firms were able to compete with the international firms but the market was becoming increasingly concentrated.
DEFINING “PROFITS” FOR BRITISH INCOME TAX PURPOSES: A CONTEXTUAL STUDY OF THE DEPRECIATION CASES, 1875–1897
Authors: Lamb Margaret
Published: June 2017

Seven British income tax disputes over depreciation (1875–1897) are analyzed in this contextual study. The legal cases reveal how uncertainty over meanings for “depreciation,” “profits,” and “capital” reflected social and political tensions which had commercial accounting implications. Case analysis yields evidence of how judicial support reinforced the Inland Revenue's technical authority over a competing tax administration institution and enabled its modern regulatory control over taxpayers to be constructed. The British example illustrates the ways in which technical and administrative practices may emerge from the contestation of meanings that takes place both in a wide political context and within particular institutional settings.
TAX FAIRNESS IN ELEVENTH CENTURY ENGLAND
Authors: McDonald John
Published: June 2017

Alongside the Roman census from Augustus' time and the ecclesiastical surveys or polyptychs of the 8th and 9th century Carolingian kingdoms, the Domesday Survey of 1086 occupies a most significant place in accounting history. Domesday Book, the outcome of the Survey, lists the incomes, tax assessments, wealth and resources of most estates in England and was used as a working accounting document by the monarch and public officials to raise taxes, distribute resources and consolidate power. Although the Domesday document itself survives, many details of its construction and use have been lost in the mists of time. This paper describes research to discover how taxes were levied and which estates and tenants received favorable treatment.
‘POUND FOOLISH PENNY WISE’ SYSTEM: THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTING IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIVER TYNE, 1800–1850
Authors: Brackenborough Susie
Published: June 2017

The relationship between accounting and governmentality, and the increasing statutory regulation of companies by central government during the 19th century have attracted a great deal of attention from accounting historians. Conversely, accounting change within local authorities in this period has attracted far less attention. The paper examines the consequences of the increase in public accountability of local authorities in England and Wales in the context of the Newcastle Corporation, the body responsible for collecting and distributing the town's wealth. During the first half of the 19th century Newcastle Corporation was heavily criticized for neglecting the improvement of the River Tyne. The paper illustrates how the Newcastle Corporation and those opposed to it used accounting as a lobbying tool to promote their interests. Gallhofer and Haslam [2001, p. 29] showed how, in the late 19th century, “radical political activists” used accounting data through the medium of the press as an “emancipatory” practice. In many ways, the case of the improvement of the River Tyne during the early 19th century also reveals the use of accounting as an ‘emancipatory’ force by opposition groups. The paper finds that the Corporation used accounting data to justify inaction and the opposition used accounting data to promote its objectives. These contests resulted in the control of the River Tyne being taken from the Corporation and placed in the hands of a trust in 1850.
CORPORATISM, LIBERALISM AND THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION IN PORTUGAL SINCE 1755
Authors: Rodrigues Lúcia Lima , Gomes Delfina , Craig Russell
Published: June 2017

This paper introduces some significant developments in the history of the Portuguese accounting profession. It does so with a view to providing a facilitative foundation of knowledge upon which further analysis and critique can be undertaken. Five developmental periods since 1755 are identified: (i) Corporatist Absolute Monarchy (1755–1820) (ii) Liberal Monarchy (1820–1890) (iii) Waning Liberalism and Rising Corporatism (1891–1926) (iv) Corporatist Dictatorship (1926–1974) and (v) Emerging Liberal Democracy and Neocorporatism (1974 until the present). The accounting profession's chequered history is analysed through episodes of regulation and deregulation. These episodes are associated with Portugal's pervading social, economic and political context and are dichotomised broadly as either “corporatist” or “liberal”. Relationships between episodes of regulation and periods of “corporatism” are highlighted, together with associations between episodes of de-regulation and periods of “liberalism”. A better understanding emerges of factors instrumental in the emergence of a well respected and rapidly growing accounting profession in Portugal.
QUESTIONS OF TAXATION FRAMED AS ACCOUNTING HISTORICAL RESEARCH: A SUGGESTED APPROACH
Authors: Lamb Margaret
Published: June 2017

This review essay suggests considerations to be addressed in research design if research on a taxation subject is to succeed as rigorous accounting research, well grounded in relevant historical scholarship. Tax research must focus on substantive subjects that are recognizable as “accounting”; the methods, approach, and exposition must be “historical” to an acceptable standard; and the research must engage with relevant portions of the existing body of accounting historical scholarship. Further, scholarly engagement with the best researchers and liveliest debates that the disciplines of accounting and history have to offer will enrich the treatment of tax in accounting history
OBSERVATIONS ON MONEY, BARTER AND BOOKKEEPING
Authors: Baxter William T.
Published: June 2017

Britain forbade her 18th-century American colonies to set up mints, and sent no supplies of her own coins. In consequence, the colonies were without any official money. Account books of the period reveal how traders fared in this unusual situation. They show that the lack of money was a severe handicap that hindered and distorted trade, but that the colonists to some extent overcame it with the aid of ingenious ledger entries. These culminated in payment by credit transfers in the books of third parties. Such transactions lead to a discussion of the nature of money.
ACCOUNTING, COERCION AND SOCIAL CONTROL DURING APPRENTICESHIP: CONVERTING SLAVE WORKERS TO WAGE WORKERS IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES, C.1834–1838
Authors: Tyson Thomas N. , Oldroyd David , Fleischman Richard K.
Published: June 2017

The paper describes the nature and role of accounting during apprenticeship – the transition period from slavery to waged labor in the British West Indies. Planters, colonial legislators, and Parliamentary leaders all feared that freed slaves would flee to open lands unless they were bound to plantations. Thus, rather than relying entirely on economic incentives to maintain viable plantations, the Abolition Act and subsequent local ordinances embodied a complex synthesis of paternalism, categorization, penalties, punishments, and social controls that were collectively intended to create a class of willing waged laborers. The primary role of accounting within this structure was to police work arrangements rather than to induce apprentices to become willing workers. This post-emancipation, pre-industrial formalization of punishment, valuation, and task systems furnish powerful insights into the extent of accountancy's role in sustaining Caribbean slave regimes.
ACCOUNTING IN HISTORY
Authors: Walker Stephen P.
Published: June 2017

Recent studies of publication patterns in accounting history portray a myopic and introspective discipline. Analyses reveal the production and dissemination of accounting history knowledge which focus predominantly on Anglo-American settings and the age of modernity. Limited opportunities exist for contributions from scholars working in languages other than English. Many of the practitioners of accounting history are also shown to be substantially disconnected from the wider community of historians. It is argued in the current paper that interdisciplinary history has the potential to enhance theoretical and methodological creativity and greater inclusivity in the accounting history academy. A practical requirement for this venture is the identification of points of connectedness between accounting and other historians. An analysis of publications with accounting content in Historical Abstracts reveals increasing interest among historians in the history of accounting. This substantial literature incorporates sites largely unfamiliar to accounting historians, such as Eastern and Central Europe and Central and South America. Historians also communicate their findings on accounting in a variety of languages. Subjects particularly deserving of interdisciplinary research engaging accounting and other historians include accounting in agricultural economies, the institutions of pre-industrial rural societies and diverse systems of government.
THE R.J. CHAMBERS COLLECTION: AN “ARCHIVIST'S” REVELATIONS OF 20th CENTURY ACCOUNTING THOUGHT AND PRACTICE
Authors: Dean Graeme W. , Wolnizer Peter W. , Clarke Frank L.
Published: June 2017

A major, unique accounting archival source, the R.J. Chambers Collection comprises both hard copy and, utilizing cutting-edge search technology, internet accessible materials. From his academic beginnings, Chambers was an orderly person, an archivist of the extensive and varied evidence that underpinned his proposals for accounting reform.

Opening research areas for accounting biography, the development of accounting thought, the history of accounting institutions, prosopography, public sector accounting history, and comparative international accounting history are foremost amongst the myriad justifications for seeking to unravel the accounting history “lodes” in archives such as the Goldberg, Chambers, and Briloff Collections [Potter, 2003]. The archiving of the meticulously kept Chambers papers from 1947–1999 provides an opportunity for unfolding the background to events previously withheld from accounting history scholars. Professional episodes in relation to inflation accounting, standard setting, proposals to reform accounting education, and the like that appeared prima facie to be worth investigating are now open to scrutiny from a different angle, with a different type of evidence available in this Collection. This Collection provides a high degree of archival provenance. In particular, it represents an orderly retention of past documentation of what Chambers wrote, and perhaps uniquely for accounting historians, received; thus, providing an extensive window from which to examine the disorderly present environment of acounting.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW, 1926–2005
Authors: Heck Jean L. , Jensen Robert E.
Published: June 2017

In her presidential message to the American Accounting Association (AAA) in August 2005, Judy Rayburn discussed the issue of the relatively low citation rate for accounting research compared to finance, management, and marketing. Rayburn concluded that accounting's low citation rate was due to a lack of diversity in topics and research methods. In this paper, we provide a review of the AAA's flagship journal, The Accounting Review (TAR), following its 80 years of publication, and describe why some recent AAA leaders believe that significant changes should be made to the journal's publication and editorial policies. At issue is whether scholarly accounting research is overly focused on mathematical analysis and empirical research, or “accountics” as it has sometimes been called, at the expense of research that benefits the general practice of accountancy and discovery research on more interesting topics. We conclude from our review of TAR that after mostly publishing research about accounting practices for the first 40 years, a sweeping change in editorial policy occurred in the 1960s and 1970s that narrowly defined scholarly research in accounting as that which employs accountics.
“EFFECTIVE” GENEALOGICAL HISTORY: POSSIBILITIES FOR CRITICAL ACCOUNTING HISTORY RESEARCH
Authors: Macintosh Norman B.
Published: June 2017

This essay, following up on the recent Sy and Tinker [2005] and Tyson and Oldroyd [2007] debate, argues that accounting history research needs to present critiques of the present state of accounting's authoritative concepts and principles, theory, and present-day practices. It proposes that accounting history research could benefit by adopting a genealogical, “effective” history approach. It outlines four fundamental strengths of traditional history – investigate only the real with facts; the past is a permanent dimension of the present; history has much to say about the present; and the past, present, and future constitute a seamless continuum. It identifies Nietzsche's major concerns with traditional history, contrasts it with his genealogical approach, and reviews Foucault's [1977] follow up to Nietzsche's approach. Two examples of genealogical historiography are presented – Williams' [1994] exposition of the major shift in British discourse regarding slavery and Macintosh et al.'s [2000] genealogy of the accounting sign of income from feudal times to the present. The paper critiques some of the early Foucauldian-based accounting research, as well as some more recent studies from this perspective. It concludes that adopting a genealogical historical approach would enable accounting history research to become effective history by presenting critiques of accounting's present state.
SPROUSE'S WHAT-YOU-MAY-CALL-ITS: FUNDAMENTAL INSIGHT OR MONUMENTAL MISTAKE?
Authors: Basu Sudipta , Waymire Gregory B.
Published: June 2017

We critically evaluate Sprouse's 1966 Journal of Accountancy article, which prodded the FASB towards a balance-sheet approach. We highlight three errors in this article. First, Sprouse confuses necessary and sufficient conditions by arguing that good accounting systems must satisfy the balance-sheet equation. Second, Sprouse's insinuation that financial analysts rely on balance-sheet analysis is contradicted by contemporary and current security-analysis textbooks, analysts' written reports, and interviews with analysts. Third, and most crucially, Sprouse does not recognize that the primary role of accounting systems is to help managers discover and exploit profitable exchange opportunities, without which firms cannot survive.
TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING THOUGHT BY ANALYZING CONTENT, COMMUNICATION, AND QUALITY IN ACCOUNTING RESEARCH OVER TIME
Authors: Badua Frank A. , Previts Gary John , Vasarhelyi Miklos A.
Published: June 2017

This paper analyzes the longitudinal development of accounting thought by characterizing the content of accounting research over several decades (1963 to 2003). The paper also investigates the interaction among accounting scholars and examines the relationship of research quality, topical coverage, methodological tools, and citation behavior. Thus, this analysis describes how accounting research has evolved, both in its content and in the way it has been used and perceived by its adherent scholars.
EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AMONG FIRMS DURING THE PRE-SEC ERA: A BENFORD'S LAW ANALYSIS
Authors: Archambault Jeffrey J. , Archambault Marie E.
Published: June 2017

This paper examines the existence of financial statement manipulation in the U.S. during a time period when many of the current motivations did not exist. The study looks for types of manipulations that would be motivated by the pre-SEC operating environment. To examine this issue, a sample of U.S. firms from the 1915 Moody's Analyses of Investments is divided into industrial firms, railroads, and utilities. The railroad and utility companies faced rate regulation during this time period, providing incentives to manipulate the financial reports so as to maximize the rate received. Industrial firms were not regulated. These companies wanted to attract investors, motivating manipulations to increase income and net assets. To determine if manipulations are occurring, a Benford's Law analysis is used. This analysis examines the frequency of numbers in certain positions within an amount to determine if the distribution of the numbers is similar to the pattern documented by Benford's Law. Some manipulations consistent with expectations are found.
THE VICTORY OF THE PRUSSIAN RAILWAY “DYNAMIC” ACCOUNTING OVER THE PUBLIC FINANCE AND PATRIMONIAL ACCOUNTING MODELS (1838–1884): AN EARLY ILLUSTRATION OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE SECOND STAGE OF CAPITALIST FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING AND A TESTIMONY AGAINST THE AGENCY AND THE MARKET FOR EXCUSES THEORIES
Authors: Richard Jacques
Published: June 2017

The history of accounting for private railway companies in Germany shows that these companies played a major role in the diffusion of historical cost accounting principles and gave birth, together with big other joint stock companies, to the “dynamic” or second stage of capitalist accounting, at least in continental Europe.

If the representatives of such railway companies did not develop new concepts of accounting, notably as concerned depreciation, they had, by 1875–1879, elaborated a new theory of accounting (historical cost or dynamic theory).This theory had a profound impact at least on the German theorists of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries such as Simon, Rieger and Schmalenbach.

This new theory was needed to justify a new law favoring shareholders in a hurry for returns on their investments rather than company creditors. It also defeated the ideology of public finance and patrimonial (or static) theories of accounting. This new theory preceded the law which promulgated the new approach and clearly defended the private interests of shareholders as opposed to those of the public in the strict sense. It appears to contradict Watts and Zimmermann's basic hypothesis of the «theory of market excuses». Agency theory seemingly does not to apply either, for the new theory was proposed by managers allied to shareholders, specifically those «hurried shareholders”, against creditors. This is why a kind of «theory of alliance» appears to be more consistent with these developments. The main reasons for developing the new accounting theory were linked to the issue of dividends. It was necessary to find an accounting approach which would allow the distribution of dividends at the very beginning of an investment cycle. It was also intended to find an accounting approach which would ensure that profits were distributed as evenly as possible throughout the entire investment cycle and among the different shareholders who had financed the investment.

Hence, the second stage of the capitalist accounting development was not connected to measure of performance or information problems (monitoring and bonding) but seems to have been caused by the need to regulate profits and dividends in the interests of managers and shareholders. However, as this change took place within the framework of prudence, it was impossible, at that stage of capitalist accounting, to achieve a perfect smoothing of the rate of accounting profit. The solution to this problem was only to be found at the end of the 20th century with the onset of the third or actuarial stage and the “discovery” of fair value.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND THE ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMIC PRACTICES OF A SOCIETY: EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Authors: Herda David N. , Reed Stephen A. , Bowlin William F.
Published: June 2017

This study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls to demonstrate how Essene socio-religious values shaped their accounting and economic practices during the late Second Temple period (ca. first century BCE to 70 CE). Our primary focus is on the accounting and commercial responsibilities of a leader within their community – the Examiner. We contend that certain sectarian accounting practices may be understood as ritual/religious ceremony and address the performative roles of the Essenes' accounting and business procedures in light of their purity laws and eschatological beliefs. Far from being antithetical to religious beliefs, we find that accounting actually enabled the better practice and monitoring of religious behavior. We add to the literature on the interaction of religion with the structures and practices of accounting and regulation within a society.
THE DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL COMPANY: FORMING, FINANCING, AND REPORTING ON AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY CORPORATION
Authors: Schultz Sally M. , Hollister Joan
Published: June 2017

This paper examines the case of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, chartered in 1823, to gain perspective on how a 19th century corporation obtained financing, communicated with shareholders, and sparked technological innovations in the years before the ascendance of railroads in America. Helping to expand the accounting history literature on canals, we examine the annual reports issued during the firm's first decade of existence. Despite early problems, management continually cast an optimistic view of the company's future in these reports. And, after initially increasing the amount of financial and other information disclosed, the annual reports subsequently became less forthcoming and transparent.
THE SOCIAL CLASS, EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND, GENDER AND RECRUITMENT OF AMERICAN CPAs: AN HISTORICAL PROFILE
Authors: Matthews Derek
Published: June 2017

This article summarises the existing evidence of the earliest CPAs and offers new data as a result of a questionnaire survey and interviews with CPAs with regard to their social class, gender, education, and the nature of their first employment. From the start CPAs were from a relatively high social class and from families of long standing in America. A majority but not all of the early CPAs graduated from high school but this soon became a requirement. Most of the first CPAs did not go to college but accounting became virtually an all-graduate profession by the Second World War. The questionnaire evidence from the 1930s to the present day indicates that 50% of the respondents came from the upper middle class, around 30% from the lower middle class, and 20% from the working class; these proportions did not change over the period of the study. A large majority of the CPAs in the survey were educated at their local high schools and their home-state public universities. The structure and changes in the US education system seemed to have little impact on the social class of the CPA respondents. Accounting firms recruited 85% of the sample and the rest joined commercial or public concerns. No strong preference was found among the various types of employer with regard to the gender, education or the social class of their recruits. Recruiters attempted to hire the best candidates they could regardless of these factors.
SOME CONTRIBUTIONS OF AND SOME CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING THOMAS JONES AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FOSTER
Authors: Hughes Hugh P.
Published: June 2017

Thomas Jones and Benjamin Franklin Foster were two early American accounting textbook authors and teachers. Their careers, spanning the middle of the nineteenth century, occurred during a time of relatively little professional activity and interchange—causing their achievements to appear even more noteworthy. While Jones did not originate the proprietary theory, he was an early advocate of financial statements and not ledger balances as the culmination of bookkeeping. While Foster appears to have made little original contribution, the wide use of his texts appears to have encouraged greater reliance on a theoretical understanding of bookkeeping.
Pulvimetalurgia: Proceso sostenible para la fabricación de carburos cementados en Colombia
Authors: Ardila Téllez Luis Carlos , Gil Plazas Andres Fernando , Barrientos Sossa Victor Guillermo , Herrera Quintero Liz Karen
Published: June 2017

En este trabajo se da a conocer la oportunidad de impulsar la industria colombiana hacia el desarrollo de nuevos materiales de altas prestaciones fabricados por vías pulvimetalúrgicas (PM) como alternativa a los procesos de fabricación convencional, generando nuevas necesidades para la industria nacional. El objetivo es describir el proceso de fabricación de materiales compuestos, tipo CERMET, formado por una fase CERámica la cual es carburo de wolframio (WC) y una fase METálica que es el cobalto (Co) y analizar los cambios a nivel microestructural de los materiales fabricados utilizando el proceso de sinterización en vacío. La aleación diseñada fue una mezcla de 88%WC y 12%Co de designación ISO K40; el proceso involucró el control de los materiales precursores que se encuentran en forma de polvo, seguido de los procesos de mezcla y molienda, para luego realizar la compactacióny sinterización. Se estudian las microestructuras y composiciones químicas obtenidas mediante microscopía electrónica de barrido (SEM-EDS); con el fin de evaluar el comportamiento mecánico del CERMET fabricado, se realizaron ensayos de microdureza alcanzando valores de 1289HV0.5 que se correlaciona con los bajos niveles de porosidad obtenidos de tipo A02, B00, C00, y tamaño de grano medio de 1,14 μm. Estos resultados indican que es posible fabricar materiales con altas prestaciones de resistencia al desgaste en el país. Se resalta la importancia que tiene potenciar la sinergia entre entidadesgubernamentales como SENA-Colciencias –Universidad Nacional para generar investigación aplicada en el país.
Síntesis de ligantes Imino-Amida como modelos de ligantes orgánicos asociados a actividad factor tolerante a la glucosa
Authors: Guateque Jhon Fernando , Rojas Olave Gustavo Adolfo , Flórez-Alamo Marcos , Flórez-López Edwin , Avila-Torres Yenny
Published: June 2017

La estructura molecular del Factor Tolerante a la Glucosa (FTG) ha sido asociada con un centro metálico de cromo enlazado de forma coordinada a ligantes electrodonadores como aminoácidos y ácido nicotínico. En este sentido, en este artículo se lleva a cabo la síntesisde ligantes con potenciales aplicaciones como FTG al coordinarse al centro de cromo(III). Se obtuvo un compuesto imino-enol (3) a partir de bencilamina (2) y acetoacetato de etilo (1) en metanol anhidro. Así mismo, la síntesis de una amina cuaternaria (5), derivada de diacianodiamida (4),en donde el centro metálico fungió como catalizador de una reacción de condensación y no como ácido de Lewis formando compuestos de coordinación.
Geneviève Fabry, Las formas del vacío. La escritura del duelo en la poesía de Juan Gelman. Rodopi, Amsterdam-New York, 2008; 329 pp.
Authors: López Angélica
Published: June 2017

Se reseña el libro:Las formas del vacío. La escritura del duelo en la poesía de Juan Gelman.
Biopolymeric materials containing brown algae polysaccharides
Authors: Denisova Evgeniya V. , Suprunchuk Viktoriya E. , Dronova Anastasiya A.
Published: June 2017

This article describes the use of polymeric systems created on the basis of natural or synthetic polymers. One of the most safe and biocompatible is fucoidan. Therefore, were proposed and developed the idea of creating films based on methylcellulose with fucoidan with the addition of various plasticizers. It was found that surface films affect the healing of wounds, as it causes the ability of the cells adhesion, the adsorption of water molecules. Also was investigated the physical properties of the films with different plasticizers, for example use as a plasticizer of the lactic acid allows to increase the capacity for swelling, as well as increase the ability to retain adsorbed, which is necessary for healing of wounds after burns. The use of glycerin or propylene glycol resulted in a decrease in the degree of swelling, and the absence of the plasticizer contributes to enhancement of the adsorption of water molecules. Data from biological films possess high ability to swell, and therefore not only applicable for the treatment of wounds with lots of exudate, but due to the high holding capacity applicable for low exudative wounds.
In Memoriam Robert Van Kemper (1945-2013)
Authors: Roth-Seneff Andrew
Published: June 2017

Hace más de treinta años, Robert Van Kemper llegó al Colegio de Michoacán para participar en el Segundo Coloquio de Antropología e Historia Regional, a partir de entonces y por más de tres décadas, “Roberto” o “Kemper” o “Van” (como los diferentes colegas y colaboradores del Colegio lo llamaron) colaboró en cursos, coloquios, mesas redondas y avances de investigación en la institución.
Antropología, ciencia y otro conocimiento. Reflexión sobre el sujeto y sus conceptualizaciones
Authors: Gómez Carpinteiro Francisco Javier
Published: June 2017

En este artículo, planteo que la antropología social tiene que superar el empirismo de la cosa observada, pues tal epistemología contribuye a la clasificación de sujetos para su control. En contraposición, argumento que existe otro conocimiento con un carácter desafiante. Desarrollo esta idea a través de la respuesta a las siguientes cuestiones: 1) qué nos impide hacer explícitos nuestros compromisos éticos y políticos; 2) cómo superar nociones sustentadas en la cientificidad para incorporar experiencias de lucha de sectores subordinados, generalmente estudiados por los antropólogos; y 3) cómo crear conceptos basados en tales experiencias que desborden los entendimientos sobre el sujeto sustentados por una producción académica e intelectual dominantes.
La construcción de la diversidad jurídica desde el Estado. El proceso de oficialización de las justicias indígenas en Michoacán
Authors: Aragón Andrade Orlando
Published: June 2017

En el año 2007 se crearon en Michoacán los juzgados de justicia comunal, mediante los cuales se reconocía, según el discurso gubernamental, las justicias practicadas por las comunidades y pueblos indígenas. En este trabajo se analiza este proceso, principalmente, para mostrar el accionar estatal y sus implicaciones en la producción legislativa e instalación de los juzgados comunales. También se discute la pertinencia del enfoque de los estudios recientes de la antropología del Estado, adoptado en este artículo, para mostrar la compatibilidad entre una concepción crítica del Estado y al tiempo dar cuenta de su heterogeneidad y conflictividad interna.
La Sociedad de Naciones y el tratamiento del sistema mui tsai
Authors: Rodríguez García Magaly
Published: June 2017

Desde mediados del siglo diecinueve, activistas británicos se interesaron por el sistema mui tsai, existente en varias localidades asiáticas. El sistema describía la práctica de transferir o vender niñas chinas a familias pudientes, que luego eran empleadas en tareas domésticas. Durante el periodo de entreguerras, la Sociedad de Naciones siguió la iniciativa de los activistas británicos e integró el estudio del sistema mui tsai dentro de sus varios órganos y comités especializados. Este artículo sigue la trayectoria de la campaña anti mui tsai dentro de la organización ginebrina.
Brian Connaughton, coord., 1750-1850: La independencia de México a la luz de cien años. Problemáticas y desenlaces de una larga tradición, México, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Ediciones del Lirio, 2010, 604 p.
Authors: Ríos Zuñiga Rosalinda
Published: June 2017

Precisamente, una de las propuestas centrales del libro coordinado por Brian Connaughton, que aquí se reseña, es la consideración de que la independencia de México fue mucho más que sólo la separación de España, en cambio se argumenta que tuvo varios giros e interpretaciones y que los principios políticos que la sustentaron representaron un nuevo umbral para las relaciones sociopolíticas del país, por tanto su periodización debe ser otra.
Humberto Félix Berúmen, Tijuana la Horrible: Entre la historia y el mito, Tijuana, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2011, 412 p.
Authors: Santos Gómez Hugo
Published: June 2017

De acuerdo con Félix Berúmen, contingencias históricas cedieron su paso a la construcción de un discurso en el que Tijuana adquirió una identidad fuertemente influenciada por la imagen que de ella se produjo en “el otro lado”. Así la ubicación geográfica (frontera) y la contingencia histórica (la prohibición) constituyeron ingredientes de primer orden en la creación de la leyenda negra de Tijuana y, según la propuesta del autor, de su transformación en mito.