Editorial

This issue of Accounting History comprises four articles, a book review, the 2004 bibliography of contributions on accounting history and a number of calls for papers. Special attention is drawn to the call for papers and other information relating to the fourth Accounting History International Conference

The naming and branding of accountants and accounting associations are explored by Parker in the context of the British Empire and the Commonwealth between 1853 and 2003. The paper examines the name choices made in designating and differentiating accounting associations as well as particular designations of accountants which have evolved into key brand names that are now commonplace. The two most notable brand names nowadays are "chartered accountant" and "CPA". The author addresses the use of brand names within settler colonies as well as within non-settler colonies. The increasing acceptance of brands in accounting has resulted in the de-emphasis of "accounting" in the names of accounting journals and in the designations of certain modern-day professional accounting associations.

Sy and Tinker challenge accounting history's embeddedness within what they claim to be "empiricist, archival, and otherwise antiquarian epistemes" (p.49), notwithstanding developments in the broader fields of history and philosophy. Indeed, the authors argue that developments in History Proper have bypassed accounting history and that philosophical concerns seem to be of limited or no relevance to accounting historians. Based on an expansive and provocative plenary address delivered at the 10th World Congress of Accounting Historians held in St Louis and Mississippi in August 2004, this article is intended to stimulate discussions on the present positioning and relevance of accounting history research. Responses to this article are, therefore, encouraged.

The Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville, Spain constitutes the case institution in a study by Funez which identifies and discusses the disciplinary character of the accounting techniques that were found to have been adopted at the institution during the period 1761 to 1790. Accounting is shown to be instrumental in transferring to local production the patterns of employee behaviour, based on discipline, that were stipulated in the official Regulations which were introduced in 1731 when the organisation of tobacco production passed to a State monopoly and was thereupon managed by a government agency. The study reveals the parallelism existing between the disciplinary authority of the written rules, reflecting the cultural values held in eighteenth century Spain, and the accounting system in use in the production entity.

Evans and the late Birkett propose a model of professionalisation and professionalism that is built on notions of conditions, dependencies and strategies in relation to occupational associations. Such notions, as argued by the authors, are present in a fragmentary way in the literature on professionalisation, in general, and the literature relating to the professionalisation of accounting, in particular. The model is intended to facilitate order by seeking to deal better with the outcome and process dimensions of professionalisation and professionalism, as well as to assist in identifying subject areas and a framework for further research.

The names of the recipients of the 2004 Accounting History Special Interest Group Manuscript Award are announced on page 139. The authors are congratulated on this achievement. The support of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Monash University, in sponsoring the 2004 Manuscript Award is gratefully acknowledged. The 2005 Accounting History Special Interest Group Manuscript Award will be sponsored by the Faculty of Business, Auckland University of Technology. The Auckland University of Technology is the first New Zealand university to sponsor this award.