The Importance of History for Accounting Research

This note responds to criticisms in this issue by Subotnik of my 1988 Abacus article. It rejects his claims that the findings in that 1988 article are devoid of social usefulness, that my discussion of knowledge accumulation 'was partial', and finally his suggestion of the futility in using citations as data and citation methods as tools of analysis. It is argued that Subotnik supports his criticisms with little more than rhetoric and unsupported assertions.     

Conjectures on Colonial Accounting History in Australia

This article analyses three current conjectures regarding Australian accounting history between 1788 and 1817. All relate to double entry bookkeeping. First, that it was practised in Australia before 1817: second, that it was introduced to Australia by Lieutenant John Palmer. RN. in 1788: and third, that its teaching in Australia can be traced to the period 1804–6. Additional conjectures are proposed about the introduction of double entry bookkeeping to Australia and the identity of Australia's first double entry accountant. It is argued that the pioneering of double entry bookkeeping in the colony of New South Wales should not be located before 1810.     

The Impact of Non-Serial Publications on Research in Accounting and Finance

This study examines the role of books and official Publications in accounting and finance research. From an analysis of thirteen leading journals for the year 1987–8 we report on the characteristics of such non-serial materials used by authors to support their research. We find that the accounting discipline in particular has become more open to influence from other disciplines. The individual perspectives of these thirteen journals can be partially revealed by their use of non-serial materials. Using cluster analysis we examine inter-journal variations in the disciplinary pattern of book citations and the distribution of citations to official bodies. Several relatively homogeneous groupings are identified.     

会计变革与经济效率：基于会计思想史的角度

财务会计是确定企业经济效益的工具。在企业外部,通过财务会计提供的企业利润信息,借助资本逐利天性,引导投资者的理性决策,客观上"自发地"实现社会资源的配置效率。在企业内部,经营者通过会计提供的利润信息,决策并引导资源在产品之间的有效率配置和有效率生产。因此,会计就是一个服务于提高经济效率的工具。当一个时期的会计能够满足实现提高经济效率的需要,它就对经济发展起促进作用;反之则会扭曲资源配置,阻碍经济发展。会计确定企业利润的方法,一定要与不同时期经济发展状况相适应,以满足合理引导资源配置、提高经济效率的需要,这是促进会计变革的根本动力。功利性利用会计未尝不可,但如何成功地功利性利用会计,是一个需要继续研究的问题。     

The Scope of Accounting History: A Note

The writing of accounting history is increasingly dominated by writers in English discussing private-sector accounting in English-speaking countries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This note emphasizes that the scope of accounting history is much wider than this.     

会计史研究领域内的一次新突破——《会计史研究》一、二卷读后感

任何事物都有它的起源和依以存在的环境.而符合人类生存与生产需要的事物如会计更有它的发生与发展的历史.史者,镜也,以古为镜,可知兴替,前事不忘,后事之师.这正是人们研究历史(包括通史、专门史、每门科学的发展史)的真谛.纵观我国史学大家,凡为世人称道,而其著作能流芳百世者,如西汉司马迁的<史记>130卷,东汉班固的<汉书>24卷,北宋司马光的<资治通鉴>294卷,以及现代范文澜主编的<中国通史>数卷,皆有一个共同特点,即:"史料翔实而丰富;立论深刻而公允."我之所以要向读者推荐郭道扬教授新著<会计史研究>(以下简称新著),就因为他以前所著<会计发展史纲>和<中国会计史稿>已经符合过去史学家治史的要求,因而使其声名鹊起,奠立了他在我国会计史学界无可取代的权威地位.今年,这部新著是在过去著作的基础上,又搜集了大量可贵、可信的史料,站在更高更广的层次上,进一步揭示会计和会计这门科学在中国和在全世界,从史前时代、后石器时代到工业经济社会,并展望知识经济社会的前景,以全新的视角,更翔实、更全面并更深刻地研究了它们的发展及其规律.这不能不说是郭道扬同志在会计史研究领域内的一次新的突破,为我国会计史研究树立了一座新的里程碑.