Robert Bricker - Böcker

This book is a biographical study of the first full-time accounting professor in a US university. Henry Rand Hatfield (1866-1945) was the first dean of the Chicago business school and the second dean of the Berkeley business school, and he was long regarded as the "dean of accounting teachers everywhere". His two textbooks, "Modern Accounting" (1909) and "Accounting" (1927), were among the most respected reference works in the first half century, and they and his articles continue to be cited today. His textbooks and carefully crafted articles were veritable annotations on the accounting literature and drew extensively on accounting and legal authorities in the US and overseas. He exemplified a principled approach to accounting debate and discussion, and he skewered sloppy and imprecise terminology and shoddy thinking. He did not propound any grand theories but was instead an astute critic of the literature, a delectable writer, and, above all, a consummate scholar. Hatfield was an authority on early bookkeeping history, and his essay, "An Historical Defense of Bookkeeping", has long been one of the most celebrated articles in the US literature. Professor Basil Yamey has written a commentary expressly for the book on Hatfield as a historian of accounting and bookkeeping. Stephen Zeff began his research in the 1960s, when he was granted access to Hatfield's extensive files of correspondence, notes and papers, and he proceeded to interview, or correspond with, many of Hatfield's former colleagues and students. The author also drew on the archives at the Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of California, as well as the records of the American Accounting Association, of which Hatfield was a founder and President. The book is rich in references to primary sources. Many of Hatfield's unpublished and previously published papers are reproduced in the book, which also contains a complete list of Hatfield's publications, including his more than 50 penetrating book reviews.

This volume describes the development of accounting thought during the twentieth century by focusing on a relatively narrow and long-lived issue, income smoothing. The task begins with the creation and description of three taxonomies of income smoothing literature in order to identify the context and bounds of the preferences and behavior that are to be the subject of the study. Then a chronological review of English-language literature referring to income smoothing behavior is conducted that covers the period, 1893 through 1998. The review starts with literature discussing secret reserves created so that fat years could pay for lean years and moves to income smoothing as a criterion for accounting choice. This literature on the smoothing criterion provided motivation for some of the earliest modern empirical studies in accounting. Empirical studies of smoothing have continued at a fairly constant rate since 1966 and make up a substantial portion of the literature review. A modification of the conventional smoothing hypothesis is proposed at the conclusion of the narrative that takes into account some relevant variables that tend to be overlooked because of the fragmentation of the literature. An extensive annotated bibliography and other appendices provide important supplements to the narrative.

Is the average accountant being strangled by overregulation? Have traditional accounting and auditing practices been misunderstood and unfairly maligned? Can anything be done to reverse these damaging trends? In the 1984 edition of this book, Eugene H. Flegm gave an emphatic yes to all three questions. However, none of his suggestions were followed and today the condition of the accounting profession (defined as to include those in business as well as public accounting) is in dire straits. The regulators - FASB, SEC and the AICPA - have continued to overwhelm practicing accountants with a continuation of detailed rules making. In this updated version of his book, Mr. Flegm explains the causes of the current crisis, how the accounting profession and the FASB failed to deal with the developing problems 20 years ago, and how there is still some hope that the integrity of the profession can be restored. He reiterates his basic belief that only an historical cost based system can be used to establish the badly needed reliability in financial data which after all is why financial statements are relevant at all. He also brings to question whether or not the AICPA and the public auditing firms have not forfeited their self regulation franchise.

Stuart Chase (1888-1985) is truly a man for all times. Still remembered by liberals in their 70s and 80s, he is now unknown by all too many. Chase was a CPA, as was his father and grand uncle, and was a longtime accountant. Chase speaks loudly and effectively for 2005 and beyond to accountants, and all others, concerned about waste, conservation, social action, justice and change, ethics and fairness. His 1925 "The Tragedy of Waste" remains the best work ever written on waste. Hopefully, this book on Stuart Chase will be in the forefront of a revitalization of the works and person of Stuart Chase. His chronology in this book traces his vitality from 1888 on. Richard Vangermeersch is an emeritus professor in accounting at the University of Rhode Island. He has published numerous books and articles on the history of accounting. He is a past president of the Academy of Accounting Historians and a past chair of its trustees. He was co-convenor of the 10th World Congress of Accounting Historians in 2004.

2004 marked the 150th anniversary of the foundation of institutionalised public accountancy in the English-speaking world. The mid nineteenth century founders were public accountants practicing in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Their historical legacy is a respected profession world-wide that offers a complex range of public accountancy and other services to industry, commerce, and government. This book celebrates this legacy in biographies of 138 accountants involved in the creation of three professional bodies that combined to form the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) in 1951. The biographies are presented within a historical context of Scotland at the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria and reveal the economic and social class structure that characterised Victorian times. Many of the founders were members of families that profoundly influenced Scottish history in a variety of ways. Others had more humble origins. The biographies therefore attempt to capture not only the background of the founders but also their achievements in terms of careers, families, and friends. The book should be of interest to public accountants wishing to understand the historical foundations on which their profession is based. It is also relevant to social historians studying the impact of emerging professions on the economic, political, and social landscape of nineteenth century Scotland particularly and Britain more widely.