IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acbsfi/v28y2018i1-2p31-60.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting measurements, profit, and loss: a science fiction play in one act by Harold C. Edey

Author

Listed:
  • Martin E. Persson
  • Stephan Fafatas

Abstract

This study presents a hereto-unpublished one-act play used during an annual three-day ‘residential course’ put on by the Department of Accounting at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in the late 1950s. The original author of this play, Harold C. Edey, is one of the intellectual forerunners in the development of British accounting thought. The aim of his exercise was to explore the problem of profit determination during a period of changes in specific and general prices. Reproducing this play contributes to our understanding of the development of accounting thought and teaching at the LSE in the period after the Second World War (1939–1945). To contextualise the play, the study traces the history of the LSE and of the author, as well as some of the concepts from the accounting measurement literature that would have been familiar to students attending the three-day residential course.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin E. Persson & Stephan Fafatas, 2018. "Accounting measurements, profit, and loss: a science fiction play in one act by Harold C. Edey," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1-2), pages 31-60, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:28:y:2018:i:1-2:p:31-60
    DOI: 10.1080/21552851.2018.1469419
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21552851.2018.1469419
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/21552851.2018.1469419?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Clarke, 2008. "The teaching of bookkeeping in nineteenth-century Ireland," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 21-33.
    2. Andrew Lennard, 2010. "The Case for Entry Values: A Defence of Replacement Cost," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(1), pages 97-103, March.
    3. Graeme Dean, 2010. "Background and Case for Exit Price Accounting," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(1), pages 84-96, March.
    4. Parker, R.H., 1997. "Flickering at the margin of existence: The Association of University Teachers of Accounting, 1960–1971," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 41-61.
    5. Christopher Napier, 1996. "Accounting and the absence of a business economics tradition in the United Kingdom," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 449-481.
    6. Napier, C.J., 1996. "Academic Disdain? ***Economists and Accounting in Britain : 1850-1950," Papers 96-133, University of Southampton - Department of Accounting and Management Science.
    7. Zeff, Stephen A., 1997. "The early years of the Association of University Teachers of Accounting: 1947–1959," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 3-39.
    8. Martin E. Persson & Christopher J. Napier, 2018. "R. J. Chambers on Securities and Obscurities: Making a Case for the Reform of the Law of Company Accounts in the 1970s," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(1), pages 36-65, March.
    9. D. Larry Crumbley & Katherine Smith & L. Murphy Smith, 1998. "TEACHING NOTE Educational novels and student role-playing: a teaching note," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 183-191.
    10. Richard Macve, 2007. "In Memoriam: Harold Edey," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 95-95.
    11. Richard Macve, 2010. "The Case for Deprival Value," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(1), pages 111-119, March.
    12. Laux, Christian & Leuz, Christian, 2009. "The crisis of fair-value accounting: Making sense of the recent debate," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 826-834, August.
    13. George Serafeim, 2011. "Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 529-571, May.
    14. Graeme Dean & Frank Clarke, 2010. "Commentary: Business Black Swans and the Use and Abuse of a Notion," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 20(2), pages 185-194, June.
    15. Macve, R.H., 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 124-141.
    16. Napier, C.J., 1996. "Accounting and the Absence of the Business Economics Tradition in United Kingdom," Papers 96-134, University of Southampton - Department of Accounting and Management Science.
    17. John Richard Edwards, 2011. "Accounting education in Britain during the early modern period," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 37-67.
    18. Geoffrey Whittington, 2010. "Measurement in Financial Reporting," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 46(1), pages 104-110, March.
    19. Macve, Richard, 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62740, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Pupovac, Sanja & Moerman, Lee, 2022. "Bringing Shell and Friends of the Earth on stage: A one-act spectacle of oil spills in the Niger Delta," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dana Dvořáková, 2011. "Fair Value Measurement in Financial Reporting," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2011(1), pages 60-75.
    2. Zeff, Stephen A., 1997. "The early years of the Association of University Teachers of Accounting: 1947–1959," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 3-39.
    3. Martin E. Persson & Christopher J. Napier, 2018. "R. J. Chambers on Securities and Obscurities: Making a Case for the Reform of the Law of Company Accounts in the 1970s," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(1), pages 36-65, March.
    4. Yasmine Chahed, 2021. "Words and Numbers: Financialization and Accounting Standard‐Setting in the United Kingdom," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 302-337, March.
    5. Carmona, Salvador, 1998. "Vogues in management accounting research," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB 6545, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    6. Jani Saastamoinen & Hanna Savolainen, 2021. "Does a leopard change its spots? Auditors and lawyers as valuation experts for minority shareholders in the judicial appraisal of private firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 613-636, March.
    7. Hayoun, Shaul, 2019. "How fair value is both market-based and entity-specific: The irreducibility of value constellations to market prices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 68-82.
    8. Jones, Michael John & Oldroyd, David, 2015. "The ‘internationalisation’ of accounting history publishing," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 117-123.
    9. Warren Maroun & Wayne van Zijl & Rottok Chesaina & Robert Garnett, 2022. "The Beautiful Game: Fair Value, Accountability and Accounting for Player Registrations," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(3), pages 334-351, September.
    10. Hellmann, Andreas & Patel, Chris & Tsunogaya, Noriyuki, 2021. "Foreign-language effect and professionals’ judgments on fair value measurement: Evidence from Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    11. Richard Macve, 2002. "Insights to be gained from the study of ancient accounting history: some reflections on the new edition of Finley's The Ancient Economy," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 453-472.
    12. Macve, Richard, 2021. "Pacioli’s Lens: Through a glass, darkly," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112170, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Ruth King & Ian Davidson, 2009. "University Accounting Programs and Professional Accountancy Training: Can UK Pragmatism Inform the Australian Debate?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(3), pages 261-273, September.
    14. Macve, R.H., 2015. "Fair value vs conservatism? Aspects of the history of accounting, auditing, business and finance from ancient Mesopotamia to modern China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 124-141.
    15. Sigrid Quack & Paul Lagneau-Ymonet, 2012. "What's the Problem ? Competing Diagnosis and Shifting Coalitions in the Reform of International Accounting Standards," Post-Print hal-01520519, HAL.
    16. Bryan Howieson, 2011. "GFC or KFC?: How Standard Setters Were Battered and Fried," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(1), pages 3-13, March.
    17. Malcolm Anderson, 1998. "Accounting History Publications, 1995/6," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 105-124.
    18. Alnoor Bhimani, 2002. "European management accounting research: traditions in the making," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 99-117.
    19. Kees Camfferman, 1998. "Perceptions of the Royal Mail case in the Netherlands," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 43-55.
    20. Bougen, Philip D. & Young, Joni J., 2012. "Fair value accounting: Simulacra and simulation," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 390-402.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:acbsfi:v:28:y:2018:i:1-2:p:31-60. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABF21 .

    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.