A New Approach to Management Accounting History (RLE Accounting)

The articles and papers reprinted in this volume, all written after 1970, represent a departure from the earlier conventional notion of accounting history research. They approach the study of management accounting history by regarding the accounting and business records of actual organizations as indispensable source materials for historical analysis. Analysis of these records has yielded a new conception of management accounting. These studies suggest that the forces contributing to management accounting’s development are more numerous and complex than historians had realized. The case studies in the first part of the book trace the historical development of virtually all the internal accounting practices associated today with management accounting. Those in the second section consist of articles which interpret the case material.

The articles and papers reprinted in this volume, all written after 1970, represent a departure from the earlier conventional notion of accounting history research. They approach the study of management accounting history by regarding the accounting and business records of actual organizations as indispensable source materials for historical analysis. Analysis of these records has yielded a new conception of management accounting. These studies suggest that the forces contributing to management accounting’s development are more numerous and complex than historians had realized. The case studies in the first part of the book trace the historical development of virtually all the internal accounting practices associated today with management accounting. Those in the second section consist of articles which interpret the case material.