Accounting History Special Interest Group

The 21st Accounting History Symposium was held on Saturday, 29 June 2024 at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand. We have covered a diverse range of historical topics including colonization, biographical narratives, sustainability, and diversity. The AHSIG steering committee members would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to all the incredible individuals who made the 21st Accounting History Symposium a resounding success. A special thank you is also extended to the symposium's distinguished keynote speaker, Prof Charl de Villiers for sharing intriguing and thought-provoking insights into how "making accounting history even more interesting."

The AHSIG steering committee would like to express its appreciation to all the presenters, discussants, and participants for their valuable contributions and insightful comments that enriched the overall discourse of the symposium. The event was concluded with the presentation of the best presentation award-participant choice by the Symposium Chair, Dr Maryam Safari. The AHSIG's steering committee extends its congratulations to the winner, Associate Professor Carolyn Fowler for the presentation of "Living in two words: Sir Henare Ngata, the first Maori public accountant in Aotearoa New Zealand (1917-2011).

We also extend our congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Robert Gibson Award, as voted by the Editorial Board of Accounting History and the Accounting History Special Interest Group (AHSIG) of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ). The winner was the article entitled ‘Innovation in Accounting Historiography: Where to from here?’’ by Carolyn Cordery, Delfina Gomes, Giulia Leoni, Karen Mcbride, and Christopher (Paddy) Napier. The article ‘Managing a Shower of Silver: Accounting, control, and Audit at the Great Exhibition, 1851’ by Prof. Stephen Walker was voted as a highly commended paper.

Last but not least, our special thanks go to the AFAANZ manager, Mr Tim Jones, and the AFAANZ board for their continued support.

The twelfth Accounting History International Conference

The 12th Accounting History International Conference (12AHIC) took place from September 4 to 6, 2024, in the beautiful city of Siena, Italy. This event was hosted by the Department of Business and Law of the University of Siena in collaboration with the Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. The conference explored the theme: “Accounting for arts, culture and heritage in historical perspectives.”

The theme delved into the intersection of accounting with arts, culture, and heritage, providing a historical perspective that enriched the understanding of accounting practices. The Accounting History International Emerging Scholars’ Colloquium (AHIESC) was conducted on the first day of the conference, September 4, 2024. All attendees had ample opportunities to network with fellow researchers, academics, and professionals in the field of accounting history.

We are pleased to announce that the next Accounting History International Conference 

(13th AHIC) will be held at the University of Wollongong in 2026. Further details regarding dates and registration will be provided in due course." 

The Eleventh Accounting History International Conference

 The Accounting History joint editors, the conference convenor and co-chairs of the technical committee of the 11th Accounting History International Conference (11AHIC) held in Portsmouth from 7th to 9th September 2022 wish to thank the AFAANZ Accounting History Special Interest Group of (AHSIG) and AFAANZ members for their support to this engaging face-to-face event. It was great that the AHSIG convenor and a few of its members could attend the conference in Portsmouth.

Seven contributions were presented at the Accounting History Emerging Scholars’ Colloquium held before the Conference. Two of the participants were from Australia and their attendance was possible due to the generous financial support provided by the AHSIG.

At the conference, 37 full papers from 15 national affiliations were presented through 15 conference streams. The conference had a plethora of highlights, including two highly engaging keynotes on industrial heritage (from Professor Luca Zan) and on Henry Benson, a well-known accounting professional in the African continent (by Professor Grietjie Verhoef). The conference program was completed by an informative panel on “What makes a Special Issue special” and  a presentation by Dr Garry Scarlett of Portsmouth University on the historical information embedded in the animal and human remains of the Mary Rose warship.

The historical locations chosen by the convenor to best represent the glory of Portsmouth (the Warrior, the Mary Rose Museum and the Boathouse) provided a unique landscape to the social and networking moments of the conference.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, which occurred during the conference, gave a special historical imprint to this Portsmouth event.