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'Men of small standing'? Locating accountants in English society during the mid-nineteenth century

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  • Stephen Walker

Abstract

The census enumerators' books for three counties in 1851 are utilized to explore the social standing of accountants in early-Victorian England. The objective is to illuminate sources of differential status within the occupation of accountancy and thereby enhance understandings of the problems of boundary definition and closure which confronted those who organized the profession in England from 1870. It is shown that accountants occupied various strata in local social structures, from the professional class to the pauper. Accountants were, however, predominantly positioned on the margins of the middle class and very few of their number exhibited styles of living which contemporaries identified as characteristic of professional men. The findings confirm that the term 'accountant' encompassed a wide range of occupational experiences and employment statuses and its meaning appears to have been subject to spatial variation.

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  • Stephen Walker, 2002. "'Men of small standing'? Locating accountants in English society during the mid-nineteenth century," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 377-399.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:11:y:2002:i:2:p:377-399
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180220125562
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Matthews, Derek & Anderson, Malcolm & Edwards, John Richard, 1998. "The Priesthood of Industry: The Rise of the Professional Accountant in British Management," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198289609.
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    1. McPhail, Ken & Paisey, Catriona & Paisey, Nicholas J., 2010. "Class, social deprivation and accounting education in Scottish schools: Implications for the reproduction of the accounting profession and practice," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 31-50.
    2. Sian, S. & Verma, S., 2021. "Bridging the divide: The rise of the Indian Accountant from 1900 to 1932," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    3. Edwards, John Richard & Walker, Stephen P., 2010. "Lifestyle, status and occupational differentiation in Victorian accountancy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 2-22, January.
    4. Cooper, David J. & Robson, Keith, 2006. "Accounting, professions and regulation: Locating the sites of professionalization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 415-444.
    5. Thomas A. Lee, 2009. "British public accountants in America," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(2), pages 247-271, January.
    6. Poullaos, Chris, 2016. "Canada vs Britain in the imperial accountancy arena, 1908–1912: Symbolic capital, symbolic violence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-63.
    7. Anderson, Malcolm & Walker, Stephen P., 2009. "‘All sorts and conditions of men’: The social origins of the founders of the ICAEW," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 31-45.
    8. Czarniawska, Barbara, 2008. "Accounting and gender across times and places: An excursion into fiction," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 33-47, January.

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