Status building: some reflections on the architectural history of Chartered Accountants' Hall, London, 1889-1893

Article Abstract:

The Chartered Accountants' Hall in London played a major role in efforts staged by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales from 1889 to 1893 to bolster its professional standing and image. Its location, functional suitability, architectural style and resources available to the professional body all colluded to create an imposing and marvelous edifice. Through this grand building, the Institute was attempting to emulate the older professions of law and medicine, which had earlier constructed their own imposing and status-boosting facilities. By 1893, chartered accountants had not yet gained the respectability it desired, which explains why the building was designed to suggest the importance of the auditing function, just like the buildings of law and medicine bodies. Although the Institute supposedly was attempting to honor civic and national values through the architecture of the building, it was actually pursuing its own interest.

Analysis, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, London, England, Buildings and facilities, Historic buildings

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Total accounting in action: reflections on Sten Jonsson's 'Accounting for Improvement.'

Article Abstract:

Sten Jonsson's 1996 book, 'Accounting for Improvement,' analyzes organizational change processes by presenting some case studies of organizations conducted during a 10-year period. It seeks to argue that the accounting function has begun to become more significant both at the strategic and operational levels of the organization. Although the book managed to present some revealing insights into the daily operations of certain local parts of the organizations it studied, the arguments it presented were found to be problematic in an accounting sense. Thus, due to a research design that needed more focus, 'Accounting for Improvement' has failed to emphasize the significance of accounting people in organizations and has even trivialized their roles in the improvement processes.

Case studies, Evaluation, Accounting, Criticism and interpretation, Organizational change, Accounting for Improvement (Book), Jonsson, Sten

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From common sense to expertise: reflections on the prehistory of audit sampling

Article Abstract:

The common notion of auditors that representative sampling appeared as an auditing technique in the USA and the UK prior to the 1900s is tested. It is argued that the major epistemological features of audit sampling were absent until at least the 1930s. Evidence of selectivity in testing, as attested by practical auditing texts, do not provide confirmation that these techniques appeared as sampling before the 1900s. The prehistory of audit sampling assumes even greater significance for its interpretation based on new vocabulary generated in the auditing environment. Modifications in auditing goals can assist in deducing the historical development of auditing techniques.

History, Accounting and auditing, Auditing, Marketing, Statistical sampling, Sampling (Statistics)

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