Impressions of a scholarly gentleman : Professor Louis Goldberg

This study presents a personal portrait of Emeritus Professor Louis Goldberg, a prominent founder of accounting education and research in the Australian academic community. It offers a distinctive view of Professor Goldberg through its employment of oral history research method. The data and findings presented herein are based on interviews with Professor Goldberg and both past and present academic colleagues. The paper reviews his formative years and his role as a professor and administrator, as well as teacher and researcher. Also documented are his perspectives on the education process and some of his own personal characteristics that have played a part in his academic career

Informing historical research in accounting and management: Traditions, philosophies, and opportunities

Historical research in accounting and management, hitherto largely neglected as a field of inquiry by many management and accounting researchers, has experienced a resurgence of interest and activity in research conferences and journals over the past decade. The potential lessons of the past for contemporary issues have been rediscovered, but the way forward is littered with antiquarian narratives, methodologically naive analyses, ideologically driven interpretation and ignorance of the traditions, schools and philosophy of the craft by accounting and management researchers as well as traditional and critical historians themselves. This paper offers an introduction to contributions made to the philosophies and methods of history by significant historians in the past, a review of some of the influential schools of historical thought, insights into philosophies of historical knowledge and explanation and a brief introduction to oral and business history. On this basis the case is made for the philosophically and methodologically informed approach to the investigation of our past heritage in accounting and management

In memorium Professor Louis Goldberg

Professor Lou Goldberg, emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne, died at the age of 89 years on October 18, 1997 at his home in Melbourne. He has the distinction of being the first full-time lecturer and professor in accounting in Australia, serving his entire academic career at the University of Melbourne. An Australian pioneer in financial accounting theory, with strong interests in Australian accounting history, he will be particularly remembered for his 1965 American Accounting Association monograph, An Inquiry into the Nature of Accounting. Professor Goldberg remained a dedicated scholar, researcher, and writer to the end of his life, and his theories and perspectives await rediscovery by generations of accounting researchers to come. He was elected to life membership of the Academy of Accounting Historians and was designated an Officer of the Order of Australia by his country for his services to accounting education. A true scholar, philosopher, mentor, and colleague, Lou Goldberg has made a profound and sweeping Australian contribution to our literature. We are thankful for his lifetime of service to our discipline

Behavioural impact of budgets: Early accounting contributions

Accounting writers have invariably referred to the accounting literature of the 1960s and 1970s as the earliest source of discussion about the impact of budgets upon manager behaviour. This short paper identifies a number of accounting writers of earlier decades, whose contribution to this subject has to date been overlooked

Henri Fayol, accounting and control: An environmental reflection

Henry Fayol (1841-1925) was a leading administrator in the French mining and metallurgy industry. After studying at the Lycee at Lyons and the Ecole Nationale Des Mines de Saint Etienne, he was appointed engineer of the Commentry pits of the S.A. Commentry-Fourchambault combine in 1860. By 1888 he had risen to the managing directorship of that company, retiring as chief executive in 1918 but remaining as a director. During his lifetime he was awarded a number of prizes and honors.1 In 1916 he published his now famous Administration Industrielle et Generale-Prevoyance, Organisation, Commandement, Coordination, Controle, in the Bulletin de la Societe de l\u27Industrie Minerale.2 Fayol attempted to develop a teachable theory of general management via a comprehensive set of principles. This theory was intended to demonstrate the benefits of adopting a scientific approach to the management of large organizations and represented the first attempt to outline a general theory of administration

Accounting History Research Methodology Committee: Committee report

I have pleasure in presenting this report on the committee\u27s activities for the year ended August 1986. The development of a comprehensive bibliography of historical research methodology sources continues on schedule