Christopher J. Napier

Critical and interpretive histories: insights into accounting’s present and future through its past

Accounting history has a long tradition, but in recent years it has expanded its interests and approaches. Early literature of accounting history that sought to glorify the practice of accounting and the status of accountants has been supplemented first by a more utilitarian approach viewing the past as a “database” for enhancing understanding of contemporary practice and for identifying past accounting solutions that might be relevant to current problems, and then by a more critical approach, which seeks to understand accounting’s past through the perspective of a range of social and political theories. A tension has developed between those historians whose first loyalty is to the archive and those who look primarily to theory to inform their historical investigations. As accounting history matures, open debate between practitioners of different modes of history making can only be beneficial, not only to the development of the discipline, but also towards our own self‐understandings as accountants, including the impact we have on organizational and social functioning. Suggests that accounting history without a firm archival base is likely to lose direction, but that our notion of what constitutes the archive, and our ways of communicating, explicating and interpreting the archive, should not be taken as fixed. To illustrate this, examines a number of approaches to the writing of accounting history where recent research has begun to demonstrate a critical and interpretive tendency, and suggests directions in which this research might develop as accounting and its history enters the twenty‐first century.

Social Reporting by Islamic Banks

The last thirty years have witnessed the appearance and rapid expansion of Islamic banking both inside and outside the Islamic world. Islamic banks provide financial products that do not violate Sharia, the Islamic law of human conduct. The Islamic principles upon which the banks claim to operate give an important role to social issues. Applying these principles, we develop a benchmark set of social disclosures appropriate to Islamic banks. These are then compared, using a disclosure index approach, the actual social disclosures contained in the annual reports of twenty-nine Islamic banks (located in sixteen countries) to this benchmark. In addition, content analysis is undertaken to measure the volume of social disclosures. Our analysis suggests that social reporting by Islamic banks falls significantly short of our expectations. The results of the analysis also suggest that banks required to pay the Islamic religious tax Zakah provide more social disclosures than banks not subject to Zakah.

Exploring comparative international accounting history

Accounting historians have long recognised accounting’s international scope but have typically concentrated their research endeavours on region‐ or country‐specific studies, or on investigating the diffusion of accounting ideas, techniques and institutions from one country to others. Much potential exists to study the development of accounting from a comparative international perspective, mirroring the attention paid over the past two decades to the comparative study of international accounting practices and standards. This paper proposes a definition of comparative international accounting history (CIAH) and examines the nature and scope of studies within this genre. The CIAH approach is exemplified through an exploratory comparative study of agrarian accounting in Britain and Australia in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In the light of this study, the paper evaluates the potential of CIAH to contribute to an understanding of accounting’s past and provide insights into accounting’s present and future.

Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to revisit the special issue of Design/methodology/approach - A retrospective and prospective essay focusing on developments in the historical accounting literature. Findings - The special issues advocacy of critical and interpretive histories of accountings past has influenced subsequent research, particularly within the various research themes identified in the issue. The most significant aspect of this influence has been the engagement of increasing numbers of accounting historians with theoretical perspectives and analytical frameworks. Research limitations/implications - The present study examines the content and impact of a single journal issue. It explores future research possibilities, which inevitably involves speculation. Originality/value - In addressing recent developments in the literature through the lens of the special issue, the paper emphasises the unifying power of history and offers ideas, insights and reflections that may assist in stimulating originality in future studies of accountings past.

Does accounting history matter

Building upon panel discussion held at the sixth Accounting History International Conference, a resounding “yes” is offered in response to the question of whether accounting history matters. However, reflecting the viewpoint that accounting history can and should matter more, various suggestions are presented for advancing the quality, relevance and significance of historical research in accounting, commencing with the need to redress persistent misconceptions about the discipline. Practical strategies for enhancing the impact of accounting history scholarship are then developed around the themes of promoting its contemporary relevance and implications, fostering engagement with diverse groups of scholars, writing accounting history in informative and engaging ways, and articulating and developing appropriate methodologies. Finally, the role of accounting historians as “change agents” is explored and advocated.

Accounting history and accounting progress

The “new” accounting historians that emerged from the mid-1980s characterised their predecessors as relying heavily on a view of accounting as progressive and accounting change as evolutionary. From a social science perspective, progress is a problematic concept, as it implies not just change but also improvement, and thus seems to imply the making of a value judgement. As accounting has become an object of study less as a technical and more as a social phenomenon, consensus as to what constitutes an improvement becomes harder to secure. However, from a perspective grounded in historiography, this paper reviews the use of a concept of progress in the writing of history from the eighteenth century, and analyses its use, together with that of a concept of evolution, in “traditional” accounting history. Appealing to recent developments in the understanding of the role of narrative in history, the paper suggests that the use of narratives of accounting progress should not be ruled out on a priori grounds.

Defining Islamic accounting: current issues, past roots

The emergence of Islamic banks and other financial institutions since the 1970s has stimulated a modern literature that has identified itself as addressing “Islamic accounting”. Much of this literature is prescriptive, though studies of actual practice, and of attitudes to proposed alternatives, are beginning to emerge. Historical research into Islamic accounting is still in a process of development, with a range of studies based on both primary archives and manuals of accounting providing growing insight into accounting in state and private contexts in the Middle East. Other parts of the Muslim world are also the focus of historical accounting research. There is still much to discover, however, before historians can determine the influence of Middle Eastern accounting ideas and practices in other parts of the world. Moreover, the term “Islamic accounting” may simply be a convenient label to group together quite disparate accounting practices and ideas across time and space.

Accounting and the absence of a business economics tradition in the United Kingdom

Economics was slow to emerge as a distinct academic and professional discipline in the United Kingdom. In the years around 1900, some British universities began to offer degrees in commerce, including accounting. These degrees were influenced by the contemporary emergence of business economics in Germany.

Secret accounting: the P&O Group in the inter-war years

During the period 1914–31, the P&O groups financial statements reflected many of the accounting ‘manipulations’ for which Lord Kylsant of the Royal Mail group was prosecuted. The paper examines the accounting practices of P&O during the inter-war period. These relied on extensive use of inner reserves to smooth reported profits. Given the high degree of uncertainty affecting shipping companies during the First World War (in particular the impact of Excess Profits Duty), the reconstruction of ‘actual’ accounts is problematical. None the less, the paper shows the extent to which P&Os reported results during the inter-war years depended on ‘conservative’ accounting before and during the war, and provides a benchmark against which the contemporaneous accounting practices of the Royal Mail group may be assessed.

The historian as auditor: facts, judgements and evidence

Both history and auditing are “evidence-based” practices. Accounting historians, who may be skilled in audit as well as historical research, may have special insights into how sources provide evidence to support judgments and opinions. Considerations of evidence by theorists of history may be of relevance to theorists of auditing, and vice versa. The work in this area of recent historiographers Richard Evans, Keith Jenkins and Behan McCullagh is reviewed. McCullaghs claim that fairness as well as truth is central to making historical judgments is shown to resonate with the work of auditors and hence is of particular significance to historians of accounting.