second accounting history international conference, The

Accounting History,  Nov 2001  by Okano, Hiroshi

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A total of 45 delegates attended the second Accounting History International Conference held at the New Otani Hotel, Osaka between 8-10 August 2001. In total, 10 countries were represented at the conference comprising Australia, Brazil, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Scotland, Sweden and the United States of America. The quality of the papers and the high standard of the presentations made generated most favourable impressions.

A total of 37 papers were submitted for presentation at this conference, excluding the two plenary papers. In total, 27 papers were delivered at the conference including the two plenary addresses. The other 25 papers were categorised into seven themes designated as follows: professionalisation of accounting I and II, auditing and corporate failure, accounting and society, CIAH and management control, accounting and the law, accounting practices and financial disclosure. Whilst the conference program was long and comprehensive, all papers were delivered on a strict time basis. Other than the plenary addresses, each paper was delivered in a period totalling 25 minutes, including between 7-10 minutes for questions and discussion. The enjoyable conference dinner, a highlight of the conference, was also conducted on a timely basis from 7.00pm to 9.00pm sharp.

Stimulating plenary addresses were made by Thomas Johnson of Portland State University and Christopher Napier of the University of Southampton. Thomas Johnson's paper entitled "'A recovering management accountant reflects on his journey through the world of cost management" provided a thought provoking opening to the conference as the eminent scholar reflected on his own long research agenda leading to his present projects and thinking. On the following morning, Christopher Napier provided perspectives on "Accounting history and accounting progress" in his thought provoking and interesting address. This paper was an earlier version of the article of the same title which appears in this issue.

As opening presentations on each day of the conference, these plenary addresses set the tone for further stimulating and thought provoking presentations during the thematic sessions. There emerged throughout the conference recognition of the development of accounting history research in Asian countries, especially on the professionalisation of accounting, thus potentially extending and enhancing the international dimensions of accounting's past in the literature to unfold. International conferences such as the second Accounting History International Conference facilitate the fostering and forging of links between individual researchers from different institutions that can lead to engagement in cross-national collaborative research, thus further enhancing the dimensions of the discipline.

The overall impression of this conference and the inaugural Accounting History International Conference held in Melbourne in August 1999 is that accounting history research has a bright future. New researchers are warmly welcomed into this international community of scholars and are actively encouraged to develop their full potential in the field.

The second Accounting History International Conference was generously sponsored by the Graduate School of Business, Osaka City University. The conference satchels were acquired through the financial support of the School of Accounting and Finance, Deakin University. I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the full support of Garry Carnegie, editor of Accounting History, and Peter Foreman, the program co-ordinator, and extend special thanks to Denise Patterson, the administrative officer of the conference. I also express my thanks to Michiyasu Nakajima for his valued secretarial and other support. Through the dedicated contributions of the Japan-Australia organising team, the conference was a big success.

All those with an interest in accounting's past are invited to attend the third Accounting History International Conference scheduled to be held at the University of Siena during 17-19 September 2003. The "Call for Papers" for this event is located on the inside back cover of this issue.

For the historical record, the program of the second Accounting History International Conference and the list of conference delegates follows.

Hiroshi Okano

Osaka City University

Copyright Accounting History Special Interest Group of Accounting Association of Australia and New Zealand School of Accounting and Finance Nov 2001
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