IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijbget/v12y2017i1p21-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The advent of accounting in business governance: from ancient scribes to modern practitioners

Author

Listed:
  • Jenifer Axtell
  • L. Murphy Smith
  • Wayne Tervo

Abstract

General social theory provides a framework within which accounting and its role in advancing business and society can be examined, including historical development and functions. This study examines the advent of accounting in business governance, from ancient origins to present day, from the scribes of ancient Mesopotamia to the internal control concepts described by the Apostle Paul in the Bible, from the Friar Luca Pacioli's landmark book published in Renaissance Italy to the work of modern-day accountants employing the latest technology, to the expanding role of women in the profession. Throughout history, while standards and technologies have changed, a fundamental purpose of accounting in business governance remains constant: to provide a test of stewardship or accountability for those trusted with financial resources. Findings of this paper will be of interest to business stakeholders and academic researchers, who will be able more clearly to see the role that accounting played in the progress and development of business over millennia.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenifer Axtell & L. Murphy Smith & Wayne Tervo, 2017. "The advent of accounting in business governance: from ancient scribes to modern practitioners," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 21-46.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijbget:v:12:y:2017:i:1:p:21-46
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=85239
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Russell, Hannah Michelle & Ariail, Donald L. & Smith, Katherine Taken & Smith, L. Murphy, 2020. "Analysis of compassion in accounting and business students, overall and by gender," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijbget:v:12:y:2017:i:1:p:21-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=70 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.