‘Accountable creatures’: Christianity and accounting

In this chapter I employ a practice focus to examine the contribution of Christianity to the development of accounting. While acknowledging the importance of belief and theology, I suggest that examining routine practices indicates the nature of accounting within Christian churches and the influence that it had on the development of the profession. The examination of such routines suggests the importance of lay participation in different forms of church polity. I stress the distinctive focus on ecclesiology, that is, the theory of religious organization, within Christianity, specifically its Western branches. I draw on historical materials to develop a narrative of the dissemination of accounting practices with an emphasis on the distinctive contribution of Scottish Presbyterianism to the development of the accounting profession within the United Kingdom and its colonial possessions and importantly in the USA. While recognizing the limitations of this account, further research could benefit from a practice-based approach.