The paper investigates the Stephenson Company's contribution to genesis of the railway industry by exploring its business model in its formative years. The Company capitalised on a well-developed business and technological infrastructure in the North-east of England that provided the building blocks for the creation of a new industry. It gained from its linkages with two social networks which provided it with a financial safety-net during the locomotive development phase and the mechanical expertise it required: the closed Quaker network and the regional network of colliery and mechanical engineers. Whilst bridging between and across these social networks facilitated the Company's development, it was not central to its strategic decision-making. This was shaped by the externalities of market conditions, which the Com-pany sought to influence by producing a viable product that would convince customers of its utility, and investors of the potential gains to be had through investing in railway construction.

The paper seeks to enhance our understanding of the interaction between the development of disciplinary power in western liberal society and Foucault's writings on governmentality, through examination of the political processes resulting from the largest public scandal in the UK, the Poulson scandal of the early 1970s. The first research motive is to uncover any additional insights or hidden understandings that can be derived by applying Foucauldian historiographical and governmental perspectives as strengthened by Dean's (2010) analytics of government to the history of corporate governance in English local authorities over the forty years following Poulson. We argue that the continual process of intervention, investigation and prescription by central government set in motion by the scandal resulted in an increase in disciplinary power within local government by changing the expectations of council officials, elected representatives and politicians in Westminster through the normalisation of these intrusions and the spirit of dependency and compliance which resulted. Secondly, the paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of the analytics approach in a complex situation involving many genealogical disruptions to the status quo over a long time-period; and whilst the paper found the method helpful, limitations emerged regarding its claims to empirical certainty through precise questioning. Finally, the paper examines the significance of countering corruption as a motivating factor in the rise of disciplinary power in English local government, which it finds as limited.

In MemoriamIn memory of Dick Fleischman, 1941-2020 I first met Dick in the mid-1990s after he unexpectedly phoned me up at home.He and his friend Richard Macve were coming to Newcastle to do some archival research on the coal industry (Fleischman and Macve 2002), and knowing that was one of my interests, wondered if I would like to meet and show them round the local record offices.That was the beginning of a long friendship, working together on many projects, mostly with his great friend Tom Tyson.Like Tom, he was also a great supporter of Newcastle University, regularly visiting the department to present seminars and discuss research.He died in 2020 after a couple of years' illness which spelled the end of his writing career, and for me and others who knew him as a friend and co-supporter, not just co-author, a light went out.Enthusiastic to the end, the great thing about Dick was that he imbued his work with a huge sense of enjoyment.The

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the labour contract system (LCS) established by the Freedmen's Bureau after the American Civil War to normalise relations between freed-slaves and their former masters and to uphold their rights as free citizens. In particular, it explains the lack of accountability of employers under the LCS and how this contributed to the system's failure. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts an archive-based approach to develop and illustrate the labour contracting relationship between freed-persons and property owners and the role accounting played in sustaining this relationship in the immediate post-bellum period. Findings The paper finds that the LCS was coercive compared to contemporary business practice in the USA; did not conform to the high ideals of contracting as portrayed by the abolition movement; and was adopted by default rather than design. In the event, the reluctance of the federal government to infringe individual autonomy by imposing an over-arching system of regulation to hold employers to account for upholding their contractual obligations prevailed over the desire to defend the freed-people's property rights. Research limitations/implications This research examines the relationship between labour contracting and property rights as well as the role of accounting in sustaining racial prejudice against freed-persons after the American Civil War. As in many archive-based studies, illustrations are selective and not randomised. Originality/value The paper examines the various accountings and accountabilities within the LCS in the context of the underlying ideological tensions and priorities in post-conflict US society.

The paper analyzes the decision of the FASB and IASB not to treat the motivational and control aspects of stewardship as a separate and distinct reporting objective to that of facilitating investment decisions. It does so first by considering the demand for information to control agents, and second by assessing the capacity of decision-useful information to replicate stewardship effects. The paper finds an essence to accounting based on the legal protection of property rights, encompassing stewardship, which has remained constant since earliest times. The decision taken by the boards on stewardship also appears disconnected from changes in the capital markets, as well as the writings on reporting objectives that preceded it.

The paper examines the IASB and FASB's stated objectives of financial reporting, and in particular the decision to disregard the motivational aspects of stewardship information. The paper shows this view to be flawed from a theoretical perspective and considers the practical consequences.

Garry Carnegie recently concluded that ‘the key development in accounting historiography between 1983 and 2012 has been the advent of new accounting history’. We agree and believe that the debate in accounting reflects a greater debate between postmodern and traditional historians – one which questions both the nature of historiography and the historian’s role in society. As a participant in this debate, Michael Gaffikin criticized traditionalists (in accounting) for failing to assess developments in the general history literature. This article responds to Gaffikin’s critique. We initially describe the key issues in the debate between postmodern and traditional historians. We review the current general history literature and then recount how the debate played out in three distinct episodes in accounting historiography in which the authors directly participated. We conclude by assessing the current state of accounting historiography.

The World Congress at Newcastle, United Kingdom was the thirteenth such event. It attracted delegates from across the world and 119 papers were presented – 66% from academics from four countries (Italy, Turkey, UK and US). Most of these papers (75%) covered the period from 1800 onwards. This paper sets out the contextual framework in which the papers presented at the World Congress should be viewed with particular reference to the problems faced by non-Anglo-Saxon academics trying to publish in English-language journals. It then introduces the papers accepted for the special issue, highlighting some of the overlapping themes. These papers cover a wider range of topics than is usual in English-speaking journals (two relating to British Shipbuilding, one on accounting developments from Mesopotamia to today, one on Japanese accounting in World War II and two on medieval accounting (in England and Turkey).

The transition from slavery to freedom in the post-Civil War American South featured the efforts of the Freedmen's Bureau (FB) to help ex-slaves overcome an extremely hostile, racist environment that included the need to articulate new labor relations structures given the demise of the plantation system, to overcome the limitations on equality legislated by the infamous Black Codes, to address the pressing need to educate masses of highly illiterate black children, and the need to provide protection for freedmen from unscrupulous landowners. This paper seeks to measure the degree to which accounting and those performing accounting functions for the FB were able to ameliorate these dire conditions that have caused Reconstruction to be perceived as one of the most negative epochs in the history of American democracy.

Purpose - This paper examines the nature and function of cost accounting at the Newcastle Infirmary, a large voluntary provincial hospital, established in 1751. In particular, the paper adds to the literature on accounting within early voluntary hospitals by identifying the relative contributions of the costing system to planning and controlling the operations, assisting decision making and holding managers accountable for their performance. Design/methodology/approach - The paper relies primarily on original documents preserved in the archives of the Newcastle Infirmary. Findings - Although evidence was found of quite sophisticated costing systems, the findings suggest that the majority of the information was produced ex post by the hospital management to demonstrate good stewardship and to engender financial support. Research limitations/implications - More cases are needed of other hospitals to ascertain how typical the Newcastle Infirmary was of the voluntary hospital sector in the nineteenth century. Originality/value - Although there are other studies of accounting within British voluntary hospitals, and studies of the use of accounting to drive decision making in profit-making organisations during the nineteenth century, none have investigated the use of accounting as a decision-making tool in a voluntary hospital.

This paper is a response to part three of Rob Bryer's (RB) analysis of the development of capitalism in the U.S., which focuses on the ideology underlying accounting practice rather than the practices themselves. We argue that the ideology that has dominated American history is not so much that of the independent producer as portrayed by RB, but a wider and more nuanced attachment to individual liberty that has coloured American history from independence to the present day. We dispute his analysis of the decline of socialism as being the outcome of ideological struggle, and in particular Irving Fisher's contribution to its demise. The paper also challenges RB's views on Adam Smith's legacy and Irving Fisher's influence over FASB's CF. Finally, it examines the historiographical implications of RB's study and our counter non-Marxist narrative.

This paper is a response to part two of Rob Bryer's (RB) analysis of the development of capitalism in the US, focusing on the second half of the 19th century when the nation was transformed into the world's largest industrial power. We argue that RB's view that America became a capitalist economy only post-1900 is counterintuitive given the scale of output, the rate of acceleration, and the accumulation and concentration of capital prior to that date.

This paper is a response to Part 1 of Rob Bryer's analysis of American business consciousness in the period prior to the mid-1800s. It argues that RB's historical model for tracking the transition to capitalism in the US based on accounting signatures is too simplistic, and that the evidence he presents is ambiguous, relying as it does on the interpretation of secondary sources. The paper questions RB's unique definition of capitalism as well as his conception of a clear point of divide between the capitalist and pre-capitalist worlds, and argues that the capitalist mentality or spirit existed in America long before the early 20th century based on current evidence. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to focus on the transition from slavery to wage workers in the American South and British West Indies, and the corresponding nature of the reporting and control procedures that were established in both venues, in order to create a disciplined workforce, and establish regular relations between employees and employers. It seeks to explain the differences in labour control practices between the two regions and to discuss the impact on these practices of accounting and other quantitative techniques c.1760-1870. In particular, it aims to consider the central role played by government in the process. Design/methodology/approach – The study forms part of an archival research project, in which the authors have consulted archives in four Southern States (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina), three Caribbean island nations, formerly British colonies (Antigua, Barbados, and Jamaica), and record repositories the length and breadth of Great Britain. The records of the Freedmen ' s Bureau (FB), located in the National Archives, Washington, DC, have been likewise visited. These primary sources have been supported by the extensive secondary literature on slavery and its aftermath. Findings – In the USA, accounting for labour in the transition from slavery was typically ad hoc and inconsistent, whereas in the BWI it was more organised, detailed, and displayed greater uniformity – both within and across colonies. The role of the British Colonial Office (BCO) was crucial here. A range of economic and political factors are advanced to explain the differences between the two locations. The paper highlights the limitations of accounting controls and economic incentives in disciplining labour without the presence of physical coercion in situations where there is a refusal on the part of the workers to cooperate. Originality/value – There is a relatively small volume of secondary literature comparing US and BWI slavery and its legacy. Likewise, the accounting implications of labour-control practices, during the transition from slavery to freedom, are largely understudied. The research also points to a need to assess the decision-influencing capabilities of management accounting systems in other transitional labour settings.

This article examines comparatively the slavery systems of the US and the British West Indies before and after their respective emancipations. The primary focus is on how differential factors in the two plantation economies, such as racial control, labour structures, and governmental mandates, impacted the development of accounting and those performing accounting functions. Other factors, such as plantation size and ownership structure, not only influenced accounting practices but management issues as well. These factors resulted in the substantially greater development of accounting in the British Caribbean, both in terms of the number of practitioners and the volume and uniformity of accounting records.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the Victorian attitude to the poor by focussing on the health care provided at a large provincial hospital, the Newcastle Infirmary.Design/methodology/approachThe archives of the Newcastle Infirmary are reviewed alongside the local trade directories. These primary sources are examined in conjunction with the writings of contemporary social theorists on poverty.FindingsAt a time when poverty was seen as a sin, an act against God, it would be easy to assume that the Victorians faced no moral dilemma in dismissing the poor, particularly what were seen as the “undeserving poor”, out of hand. Yet, the paper observes how accounting was used both to persuade the wealthier citizens to contribute funds and to enable the hospital to exercise compassion in treating paupers despite this being prohibited under the hospital's rules. Such a policy conflicted with the dominant utilitarian view of society, which emphasised the twin pillars of economic expediency and self‐help.Research limitations/implicationsMore case studies are needed of other hospitals to ascertain how typical the Newcastle Infirmary was of the voluntary hospital sector as a whole.Originality/valueAlthough many histories of British hospitals exist and some have examined how accounting was used to manage within these institutions, the concern has not been with accounting as a moral practice.