Editorial

This issue of the journal, the fifteenth in the New Series, contains contributions on an array of topics written by scholars in the United States, Spain, Italy and Australia. It also features other contributions, including the 2002 accounting history publications list, which has, once again, been

The lead article in this issue was the basis of a plenary address by the author, Theresa Hammond, at the 9th World Congress of Accounting Historians held in Melbourne between 30 July and 2 August 2002. Renowned for her research and publications on African American accountants, particularly the work entitled A White-Collar Profession: African American CPAs Since 1921, Hammond presents an outline of the most recent international research on marginalised groups in accounting. The emerging international focus on such groups in accounting history scholarship is contributing to a literature concerned with recording history from accounting's margins in order to provide a fuller and richer understanding of accounting's past around the globe. Anyone with an interest in this field of enquiry will find this timely contribution to be essential reading and worthy of discussion in the classroom.

The four largest international accounting firms of today are major multinational organisations of unprecedented influence on international business and accounting practice that have grown rapidly by both merger activity and internal growth over the past 100 years or so, and especially in recent decades. Wootton, Wolk and Normand provide an historical perspective on mergers and acquisitions by major US accounting firms during the twentieth century, with a special emphasis on the last fifty years of this period. The authors have attempted to elucidate the importance of mergers and acquisitions within the accounting profession, the relationships between the internationalisation of trade and the internationalisation of major accounting firms, and to outline the ways in which accounting firms have promoted and undertaken such activity in an increasingly competitive, globalised business world. Their story points out how accounting firms, among other major international corporations, appear to strive to become more competitive or at least more influential and, accordingly, more powerful, by effectively eliminating competition. Therefore, Wootton el al., assist in providing a basis for further research on the topic of competitive behaviour, past and present, within the now highly concentrated international accounting profession.

Alvarez-Dardet and Capelo examine the external and internal factors affecting accounting change in the case of Aguera Wholesalers, a small family-owned company group which operated in the grocery industry, both retail and wholesale, in the Spanish province of Cadiz. The authors build on the theory of "relational contracts", which focuses on contracts affected by relations that are not merely based on maximising economic self-interest. Rather the theory adopted embraces a number of non-economic phenomena such as family relationships and friendships between agents. The study deals with the period 1770 to 1835 and, in the case of small family-owned companies, offers a broader perspective on accounting change in addressing particular, ongoing social relationships in a local, time-specific context.

In memory of the late Alberto Bisaschi, who died on 24 December 1999 having almost completed an historical study on the accounting practices of the Venerable Society of the Living and the Dead of Parma (the Society) formed in 1304, this issue features the output of his in-depth research on the long-dated and substantially complete surviving records of the Society. These records, which date from the 1300s, are held by the Public Record Office of Parma and constitute one of the most important sources of the economic history of the region. The study provides a fourteenth century illustration of the emergence of an ante double-entry system which only partially secured equality between the debits and credits of transactions. Accordingly, the paper elucidates early evidence of bookkeeping practices which would evolve into the full double-entry system, although the Society itself never applied comprehensive double-entry bookkeeping during the six centuries over which it operated.

The last work of the late Louis Goldberg, A Journey into Accounting Thought, is reviewed by Burrows in an insightful contribution which draws on the author's personal knowledge of Lou as a distinguished accounting and accounting history scholar. Burrows provides an overview of Journey, edited by Stewart Leech and published in 2001, four years after Lou's death. Burrows records that Journey "represents the fascinating last statement of a scholar who was an outstanding educator and chronicler of accounting education, a dedicated bibliophile, an insightful, challenging, and (occasionally) mischievous critic, but an indifferent advocate" (p. 123). This review article serves to illustrate the importance of drawing upon personal perspectives of the work of prominent accounting authors in seeking to better appreciate their contributions and the motivations behind them.

The third Accounting History International Conference will be held in Siena between 17-19 September 2003. Under the convening of Angelo Riccaboni of the University of Siena and with the support of the Italian Society of Accounting History as host, the conference promises to be a success based on interest received to date. Papers for consideration for presentation at the 3AHIC should be submitted by 31 May 2003 (or later by arrangement) to: 3ahic-group@deakin.edu.au

The 2002 Accounting History Special Interest Group Manuscript Award is announced on page 133. The sponsorship of the 2002 award by the School of Financial Studies, Charles Sturt University, is appreciated. The 2003 Accounting History Special Interest Group Manuscript Award will be sponsored by Victoria University, Melbourne.

A further special issue of Accounting History has been commissioned. The special issue on the theme "Historical Perspectives on Accounting and Audit Failure within Corporate Collapse" is scheduled to be published in May 2005 issue of the journal. The guest editor of this issue is Brendan O'Connell of Deakin University. See the "Call for Papers" for this special issue on the inside back over of this issue.

Appreciation is expressed to Terry Heazlewood for his valuable services as Assistant Editor of Accounting History since the inception of the New Series to December 2002. Terry will continue to be associated with the journal as a member of the Editorial Board. Brian West became the Assistant Editor of the journal in January 2003 having served as a member of the Editorial Board since 1999.