paper can be designatedhistorical. We are concerned with theemergence of standard costing and budgeting inthe early decades of this century and the way thiscan be related to other social practices. To identify our concern as historical is, however, to beg
t
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he question as to the meaning and significanceof historical analysis.Care is needed in formulatingan appeal to an historical viewpoint fromwhich to understand changes in accounting
thought and practice. There are a number ofquite different ways in which to understand thecontribution of an historical perspective. Onerequest voiced from time to time is for more histories(see e.g. Parker, 1981, p. 290; Solomons,1968, p. 17). These would, it is suggested,uncover the how and the what of accounting.What, for instance, was actually accounted for ina particular firm in the early nineteenth century?It is tempting to rally around this call. It has aninnocent appeal and would appear to have undeniableforce.
In one sense we have no objection to the callfor more facts. However, the simplicity of therequest can be misleading. We would like to
propose a different agenda for the interpretationof accounting's past, one which casts a differentlight on the understanding of accounting practices.This is one which we feel has considerablerelevance for understanding accounting today,and which enables us to develop a theoretical
understanding of accounting as a social and
organisational practice.
One conception of accounting history, which
appears to have a significant level of acceptance
at the present time, is one which sees accountingas changing, or capable of being changed, inresponse to demands expressed or implied by achanging environment. It is a notion of account-"ing history in which references to the metaphorof evolution are not infrequent (AmericanAccounting Association, 1970; Chatfield, 1977;Littleton & Zimmerman, 1962; Lee & Parker,1979; Kaplan, 1984). What is here required ofaccounting history, it would seem, is that(purely aesthetic consideration apart) it shouldseek to elucidate: the evolution in accounting thought, practices and
institutions in response to changes in the environment
and societal needs. It also (should consider).., the effect
that this evolution has worked on the environment
(American Accounting Association, 1970, p. 53).
The utility of accounting history, its potential inrelation to current theoretical and practical concerns,is that through elucidating the resolutionof past incongruities of accounting with its environment,
it could facilitate the more effectiveresolution of such issues in the present. Theimage to be gained is that accounting can
enmesh with its context in ways that are inevitable,given some overwhelming environmentalshift, and that may even be socially desirable. Wedo not find such an interpretation of accounting's
history to be persuasive. In particular, thefunctional tone of the very language in whichaccounting history is defined significantly obliterates
the possibility of accounting's location,along with a range of other social practices, inrelation to modes of operation of power.
One way of countering such an approach is toinvert the perspective. Accounting would then
no longer be viewed as becoming, or as having
capacity to become, an increasingly refined
technical apparatus. It would also no longe
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