Editorial

Accounting History,  May 2007  by Carnegie, Garry D

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This issue features three articles, a book review and various calls for papers. Articles included have been written by scholars located in Canada, the UK and the USA.

Richardson and Jones are concerned with the issue of professional designations or "brands" that professional associations around the world adopt in representing and marketing the identities of their member practitioners. In particular, the authors explore two historical case studies of mergers of professional associations in Canada - one successful while the other was not successful - focusing upon member reactions to the potential disappearance or adulteration of their brand. The study contributes to the literature on the distinction between goods and services marketing by focusing attention on the role of the service providers, who internalize the brand as an important part of their personal identity, in the repositioning of service brands.

Noke examines issues involved in the establishment by the Board of Trade in 1948 of two committees on administrative and accounting matters arising under the UK Companies Act. The committees were known as the Consultative Committee and the Accountancy Advisory Committee. The study addresses the rivalries involved in establishing the committees and some of the key issues that were put to the committees. It shows the tendency of the Board of Trade to follow the advice of the committees when it agreed with that advice and ignore the advice when it disagreed with the advice rendered. The author seeks to evaluate the success of the committees and, in the process, shows that many of the committees' deliberations and recommendations anticipated issues that were later addressed by the Jenkins Committee.

An evaluation of the process of firm-specific learning related to the development of actuarial-based pension accounting at the Bell System in the USA is provided by Chandar and Miranti. Dealing with the period 1913 to 1940, the study draws upon Alfred Chandler's notion of an "integrated learning base" and analyses the steps taken by the firm in learning how to order multiple forms of specialized knowledge in adopting effective pension liability accounting and management. The investigation renders insight into two aspects of corporate learning within the firm. First, the ways in which the activities concerned with the implementation of new forms of specialized knowledge gradually became integrated within the firm's organizational structure. second, the manner in which corporate actions pertaining to pension matters shaped the relationship between the firm and the broader societal context in which it operated.

The next issue (Vol.12, No.3, August 2007) is on the theme "Race and Gender in Accounting's Past".This special issue is being guest edited by Marcia Annisette.

Copyright SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. May 2007
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