Foundations and Trends® in Accounting
ACCOUNTING IS AN EVOLVED ECONOMIC INSTITUTION
by Gregory Waymire (Emory University) & Sudipta Basu (Temple University)
Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution starts by defining accounting history research” and posing six big picture questions about historical accounting evolution. The book summarizes accounting history over the past ten thousand years — this literature review provides useful examples for subsequent sections and can be used as a primer of accounting history. The authors explain how accounting history can inform scholars studying modern institutions by analyzing several exemplary research papers. Numerous empirical studies are examined using archival accounting data and suggest further questions that can build upon and extend published research. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of an evolutionary perspective for accounting research and identify numerous research opportunities under each of the six big picture questions to build a coherent evolutionary theory of accounting.
Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution shows that studying the history of accounting evolution is socially valuable for several reasons. First, accounting institutional history can provide useful background knowledge and context for scholars seeking to understand modern institutions. Second, historical data provide unique opportunities to study issues of enduring importance. Third, history is the necessary focus of evolutionary theories that seek an ultimate explanation for how human societies and economic institutions are shaped over a long period of time. Fourth, a lack of historical knowledge can predispose researchers to confirmation bias. Finally, studying accounting history can help develop professional identity, not just for accounting scholars but also for accounting students.
Published by Now Publishers and marketed by World Scientific
Contents:
- Introduction: Why Accounting History Research is Valuable
-
Quantitative Accounting History Research: Definition and Focus of Paper
- Overview of Questions that Arise in Accounting History
- Accounting History Research as a Stimulant to Thought Experiments
- The Use of Historical Data in Testing Economic Hypotheses
- Future Research: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of Accounting
- Concluding Remarks
- References
Readership: Auditors, accounting historians, accounting educators and
accounting researchers.
| 184pp |
Pub. date: Sept 2008 |
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