Accounting for African migrants in Naples, Italy

The increasing interest in international migration and the African dimensions of that migration in Europe has received considerable attention by scholars recently. Accounting has been largely absent from contributing to that research. In this article, I address how the limits of a managerialist social accounting of African migrants in Naples, Italy might offer useful insight into the social and economic dimensions of irregular African migrants working in the city's underground economy. To do this, I employed the methods of anthropology and ethnographic study. In a case study of a social audit introduced by a public transit company to control petty crime, I examine how that audit produced an excess knowledge about African migrants that extended beyond it procedural purpose. Beyond the limits of its structure it revealed significant knowledge about the informal economies of remittances sent to Africa.     

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.     

A Possibilitarian History of Price Change Accounting in the UK: 1971-1985

This paper offers a 'possibilitarian' analysis of the history of price change accounting in the UK, exploring how events might have turned out differently at a number of key nodal points. It argues that a stable current cost accounting regime could have been established significantly before SSAP16 was in fact adopted or, alternately, that the retreat from SSAP16 could have been managed in a way that would have maintained compliance with current cost accounting. Had a substantial period of widespread compliance within a stable regime eventuated, a quite different dynamic might have emerged, including significant user pressure to maintain current cost accounting, thereby underpinning the regime and leading to its long-term survival.     

An analysis of the first ten volumes of research in Accounting, Business and Financial History

Although numerous studies have focused upon the publishing patterns of leading academic accounting journals, the area of accounting history has largely been neglected. This paper uses standard content and citation techniques to analyse the 155 articles published in the first ten volumes of Accounting, Business and Financial History across the period 1990 to 2000. It highlights the leading individual and institutional contributors to ABFH, the major foci of their studies and the journals, articles and scholars exerting the greatest influence upon ABFH authors.     

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.     

中国会计理论研究的国际化:基于国际会计与财务学术期刊的初步分析

本文较为系统地整理和分析了20余年来国际会计与财务学术期刊发表的有关中国会计问题的200余篇研究成果。分析显示:(1)中国会计问题已经积累了相当数量和质量的国际学术研究成果,且近年来的增长趋势明显;(2)作者群主要为华人学者,地区分布广泛;(3)研究方法经历了从规范研究向实证研究为主的转变;(4)研究主题与中国的政治、经济改革以及文化特征密切相关,突出反映了中国特殊的制度背景与研究机会;(5)中国大陆学者在中国会计理论研究的国际化进程中总体贡献比较有限,但近年来发挥的作用明显增强。     

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。