Editorial

This issue features four articles, the 2006 accounting history publications list, the notice of appreciation of ad hoc referees who supported the journal during last year, as well as the announcement of the sixth Accounting History International Conference (6AH1C), which will be held in Wellington

A study on accounting and financial control at J & P Coats Ltd, one of Britain's largest and most successful multinational companies from 1890 to 1960, is presented by Kininmonth and McKinstry. The examination focuses on four elements of the accounting control system, namely consolidation accounting, the control and funding of subsidiaries, private ledgers and management accounting practices. The authors argue that their findings, indicating that J & P Coats Ltd was highly successful partly because of its tight accounting and financial control system, cast doubt on Chandler's view that family-owned enterprises, so typical of Britain's "personal capitalism", were not well structured, unlike USA enterprises which embraced "managerial capitalism", for high levels of entrepreneurial responsiveness and coordination.

Hidalgo and Fúnez focus on quality control at the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (RTFS) during the 1770s and particularly on the decisions taken by management on an ad hoc basis in order to improve quality in the tobacco business under monopoly conditions. The authors show that the quality measures were aimed at improving the efficiency of the production process, maximizing state income from tobacco taxation by enhancing customer satisfaction as a result of attempts to improve the quality of the product and, ultimately, at fostering public happiness. Such quality considerations as part of the operational decision process adopted by RTFS management are argued to have been grounded in two related trends: the reformist spirit of the Spanish Enlightenment and the administrative reforms of the Bourbon dynasty. The study is seen as complementing other historical studies on the RTFS, including those that have been undertaken in recent years by other Spanish accounting scholars.

Hollister and Schultz examine the account books of the Elting and Hasbrouck families, specifically the store accounts of the respective families that were prepared in the rural community of New Paltz in New York's mid-Hudson River valley during the late 1700s. The surviving records illustrate the key role played by small town merchants in facilitating commerce, providing financing, and supporting the social structure of the community. The accounts also illuminate issues of power and control within economy and society during the era. The study aims to augment an understanding of the role of accounting in both reflecting and defining the life and times of people in such settings in the USA.

The final contribution in this issue provides an exploration of the dimensions of the international accounting history community. Carnegie and Rodrigues examine the formal (that is, institutionalized) and informal (that is, non-institutionalized) arrangements for accounting history in various countries and regions. The countries and regions coming within the ambit of their investigation comprise Australia and New Zealand, China, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the USA. The study seeks to enhance an understanding of the nature, size and dynamics of this expanding group of scholars. Stepping up collaborative research endeavours between scholars whose first language is English and those whose first language is not, is portrayed by the authors as a means of enhancing a focus on accounting in "other places" and on accounting by "other peoples" as well as a focus on accounting in "other eras".