ترجه تخصصی حسابداری

Historical accounting research has a substantial track record of using a variety of theoretical insights to better understand how and why accounting has contributed to, and beenaffected by, organisational change and development. The article outlines the emergence ofa range of theories that have been employed by accounting historians, against the background of the development of accounting history as a significant disciplinary field withinaccounting research. From its investigation of accounting historians’ approaches tostudying accounting as a central practice in organisational processes, it reveals how historical accounting studies have been informed by and contributed to theorisation of suchorganisational phenomena. The article concludes that theory is largely used to provideconceptual frameworks for historical narratives, with historical accounting research oftenfocused on case studies of single organisations or organisational settings. However, theoryhas also been mobilised at more general levels, to provide meta-narratives of the rise ofcapitalism and the emergence of managerialism. Far from treating accounting as technicalpractice, accounting historians are revealed as conceiving accounting as social practice,impacting both human behaviour and organisational and social functioning and development. As social practice, accounting emerges deeply embedded and pervasive in organisations and societies