Request for nominees for contributors to accounting thought

I would like to share with you an idea expressed to me by Professor Paul A.M. Van Philips of the University of Amsterdam. Professor Van Philips said that an outstanding weakness of accounting is that we do not have a book equivalent to Joseph Schurnpeter\u27s History of Economic Analysis. We have no one place to send students and practitioners of accounting for the rich heritage of accounting writers

Some thoughts concerning the Board of Trustees of the Academy

I attended a four hour key member meeting on Friday, December 1, in Atlanta and then a two-hour review with some members on Saturday afternoon, December 2, in Atlanta. My goal was to see what the trustees could do to help The Academy. My reading of many books on Boards did not yield much specific help, as almost all were written for the private sector. The one book that was not for the private sector assumed that the organization had a full-time and paid staff, which is far from what our organization has or ever will have. Your responses on my questionnaire also helped me come to the conclusion that coincides with a comment written by Ed Coffman: We must find a way for each member of the Trustees to participate in the current activities of The Academy. This is probably also true of our past trustees

Significant source for accounting historical research: The Catasto of 1427 in Florence

Ferdinand Scehevill\u27s 1938 book, History of Florence: From the Founding of the City through the Renaissance, mentioned that the Catasto of 1427 was a relatively equitable income tax, based on an anticipated earning rate of 5 percent on equity (pp.345-346). The tax failed by 1434 because of dishonest administration (p. 364). What accounting historians should note was that the base of the 1427 Catasto, the same base of Pacioli in 1494, is that of a list of all assets and liabilities (pp.345-346). There is a copy of the 1427 law in the 1765-66 book Delia Decima e di Varie Altre Gravezze Imposte del Communedi Firense (Schevill, p.346), which is available on microfilm

Few suggestions for potential future Hourglass awardees; Journal has new book review editor

On behalf of Peter McMickle and myself, I am very happy and honored to thank the Academy for its awarding us the 1988 Hourglass Award. As our experience could be helpful to you in perhaps trying a similar project, I\u27d like to relate the milestones of the book, The Origins of a Great Profession. It is an example of what might be called Celebration Accounting. Since there are many celebrations coming in the next few years: Columbian 500 in 1992; NAA 75 in 1994; Summa 500 in 1994; and CPA 100 in 1996, for instance, perhaps the relating of our experiences can alleviate some fears of doing a longer-type project

Tips for writing a history of a state society of CPAs

The Rhode Island Society of CPAs has just celebrated its 75th Anniversary. The writer, as the Historian of the Rhode Island Society, prepared the text of the anniversary booklet and would like to discuss some tips garnered in the process of writing the text. These tips may enable other historians to attempt histories of their own State Society

Williard E. Stone, life member of the Academy

In August, 1991, The Academy of Accounting Historians elected Dr. Williard E. Stone to Life Membership in recognition of his long service to the Academy and to the community of scholars in Accounting History. At that time, only a brief notice of the election was published. Dr. Richard Vangermeersch was commissioned to provide the following comments in honor of Dr. Stone