`This book is a good comprehensive text and comes highly recommended to anyone currently involved in, looking to get involved in, or just interested in environmental management, environmental accounting and reporting' - Pacific Accounting Review

This is the long-awaited 2nd edition of the benchmark publication that helped shape the developing agenda of environmental accounting. This excellent new edition provides an overview of the subject ranging from environmental management to sustainability, and integrates the major advancements that have occurred since the first edition - in both research and practice. It introduces and explains environmental issues as they relate to accountants today.

This new work also places an increased emphasis on the emerging research literature in the field and reveals a consciousness of the difficulties of developing an environmental agenda in business. It makes an excellent stand-alone text for lower level students, a firm base from which the advanced student or researcher can explore research and more complex issues, and a useful guide for practitioners seeking to understand and implement environmental practice.

Most large companies worldwide today have some kind of shared services concept in place. Over half of the medium and large companies are currently engaged in some kind of shared service project activity. The investment in shared services is always calculated in millions. In other words, the costs of getting it right (or getting it wrong) can be huge. Tom Bangemann's book is a concise blueprint for identifying, assessing, designing, implementing and improving the process for shared services in the finance and accounting function. The author focuses on critical success factors, the people issues involved, and learning from other people's big mistakes. The book includes a variety of real life examples and real benchmarking data, performance metrics and best practices. The section on implementation is based on a proven five-phase methodology and explains the steps and activities involved as well as showing examples of the deliverables and the results you can expect. Any CEO, MD, CFO, Finance Director and senior finance people will find this book a 'must-have' guide to the process before they start and an excellent benchmark against which to measure the performance of any existing shared service operation.

This study, originally published in 1987, addresses the question of small firm performance. Drawing on an extensive database containing financial, employment and ownership data for several thousand small firms, the book examines whether small firms do actually provide jobs, whether they grow and why small firms fail. Guidance is given on how to spot the signs of impending failure in a small business, which is of use to accountants small business PR actioners and government grant providers.

In the UK today the form and content of accounts published by limited companies are closely regulated. In the 19th century the position was different: the popular view was that such matters were for private negotiation between owners and management. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of discussion of the need for regulations, which were actually imposed in a number of areas. This book provides readers with the essence of the many debates that took place, the conclusions reached and the action taken to regulate company accounts.

Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control provides comprehensive approaches to the design and evaluation of internal control systems. In doing so, it covers both the traditional process approach that focuses on individual organizational processes, and a contemporary typology approach that focuses on different types of organizations as unique combinations of organizational processes. In both approaches and throughout the text, IT is considered an integral part and enabler of internal control. The second edition of Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control:* Places internal control in the context of other related disciplines.* Discusses contemporary developments in the field of internal control.* Explores the relationship between internal control and management control as means to achieve organizational control.* Examines the dynamics of internal control and IT.* Provides tools and techniques for documenting and evaluating internal control systems.* Discusses the process approach to designing and evaluating internal control systems.* Introduces the contemporary typology approach to designing and evaluating internal control systems, focusing on internal controls that are applicable in various types of organization, including trade, production, service (including knowledge intensive firms and telecoms), financial industry and governmental organizations.* Illustrates practical internal control issues using articles from several major international newspapers such as the Financial Times, the Guardian, The New York Times and the Washington Post.Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control has been written for students in Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control courses at advanced undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. A website accompanies the book and provides case studies, PowerPoint slides, an instructor's manual together with questions and answers: www.wileyeurope.com/college/vaassen

Capitalism is historically pervasive. Despite attempts through the centuries to suppress or control the private ownership of commercial assets, production and trade for profit has survived and, ultimately, flourished. Against this backdrop, accounting provides a fundamental insight: the 'value' of physical and intangible capital assets that are used in production is identically equal to the sum of the debt liabilities and equity capital that are used to finance those assets. In modern times, this appears as the balance sheet relationship. In determining the 'value' of items on the balance sheet, equity capital appears as a residual calculated as the difference between the 'value' of assets and liabilities. Through the centuries, the organization of capitalist activities has changed considerably, dramatically impacting the methods used to value, trade and organize equity capital. To reflect these changes, this book is divided into four parts that roughly correspond to major historical changes in equity capital organization. The first part of this book examines the rudimentary commercial ventures that characterized trading for profit from ancient times until the contributions of the medieval scholastics that affirmed the moral value of equity capital. The second part deals with the evolution of equity capital organization used in seaborne trade of the medieval and Renaissance Italian city states and in the early colonization ventures of western European powers and ends with the emergence in the market for tradeable equity capital shares during the 17th century. The third part begins with the 1719-1720 Mississippi scheme and South Sea bubbles in northern Europe and continues to cover the transition from joint stock companies to limited liability corporations with autonomous shares in England, America and France during the 19th century. This part ends with a fundamental transition in the social conception of equity capital from a concern with equity capital organization to the problem of determining value. The final part is concerned with the evolving valuation and management of equity capital from the 1920s to the present. This period includes the improvement corporate accounting for publicly traded shares engendered by the Great Depression that has facilitated the use of 'value investing' techniques and the conflicting emergence of portfolio management methods of modern Finance. Equity Capital is aimed at providing material relevant for academic presentations of equity valuation history and methods, and is targeted at researchers, academics, students and professionals alike.

The emergence of an accountancy profession in Scotland is described in the context of three leading Chartered Accountants, whose careers spanned the second half of the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century: George Auldjo Jamieson (21828-1900), Alexander Sloan (1843-1927) and Richard Brown (1856-1918). Each biography reveals the man involved in the professionalisation events, and is described within a broader personal context associated with Victorian Scotland.

The interrelations between accounting and food have been hitherto neglected at an international level. This regret is particularly meaningful with regards to Italy, where 'Food', besides being a physiological need to satisfy, is one of the main pillars of the 'Made in Italy' Industry, and the so-called Italian life-style, which has become a part of the popular culture. Accounting and Food seeks to explore the accounting, business and financial history of some of the most prestigious Italian food producers. Moreover, given that "Food" has been at the center of production and trade throughout the history of mankind, food production and commerce will be investigated from the critical angles of accounting, accountants and merchants. Relatedly, the interconnected history of the Food fairs and expositions of the major Italian trade centers will be also unveiled. Accounting and Food examines the role of accounting, accountants and merchants in food production and international trade (e.g., grain, wine, etc...) as well as considering the history of food producers, paying particular attention to the role played by women entrepreneurs over time. Finally the book explores the interrelations of accounting, food and state, local authorities and social institutions, in particular in so far these latter institutions were involved in the Political economy, regulation, allocation and distribution of food to populations and societies. Accounting and Food will be of particular interest to researches and scholars in the field of accounting history but also to those working in the areas of regional development, regional economics, food and sociology and other related disciplines.

These reprints of articles, lectures and talks cover the period 1949 - 1980. They chart the development of the academic subject of accountancy and illustrate some of the matters which were concerning the academics at the London School of Economics at a time when academic accountancy was still in its infancy.

Up until the mid 1980s multinational enterprises usually published only consolidated worldwide accounts. This changed in subsequent years with increasing legal requirements to publish separate national accounts for each subsidiary. Obviously this exposes the subsidiary to the risk of takeover by a competitor and/or to intervention on the part of the host government. This book presents an authoritative and in-depth analysis of the disclosure issue from both theoretical and practical standpoints. The author describes the methods used to research and evaluate disclosure risks and benefits and presents much new thinking and many new research findings on this important topic.

This volume presents a survey of accountancy from early times through to modern accounting methods of the early twentieth century. Covering everything from accounting in Ancient Egypt and the Roman Republic through to legislation for the accountancy profession in Europe and South America, as well as ethics and education in the accountancy profession, this volume will be of use to both students and professionals who wish to extend their historical knowledge of their profession.

This book contains edited versions of thirty British legal cases involving accounting issues decided from 1849-1888. These cases are a valuable source of information about the development of accounting principles and practices in nineteenth-century Great Britain. The thirty cases show that the court decisions involved a rich variety of accounting issues. In some cases courts upset private contractual stipulations regarding accounting and dividend matters. In others, management was held to have used incorrect principles in computing profits. Whether or not a contract or management decision was upset, the courts often discussed at some length the principles that management should apply in the preparation of balance sheets or income statements. It is therefore obvious that in resolving issues of equity among participants in British companies, the courts were applying normative accounting principles.

C. Rufus Rorem, (1894-1988) was a pioneer in the development of group medical insurance and pre-paid health care. At the time the concepts were radical, but in 1937 he became head of the American Hospital Association's committee on hospital services, which fostered the first prepaid hospitalization plans in New York and other cities, followed in the 1940's by doctors' group practice. This collection includes out of print and difficult to access primary and secondary sources on Rorem's work, including his 1929 dissertation which presents his major, and still relevant writings on financial accounting theory and practice in a comprehensive, integrated context.

This bibliography provides the reader with a comprehensive reference tool that will enhance understanding of methodological issues and enable the user to employ research methods appropriate to their subject of study. It also provides accounting historians a comprehensive data base for the development of papers addressing methodological issues in an accounting history context. Access to this type of resource is particularly crucial to the development of accounting history research since the number of papers dealing with methodological issues published in accounting history literature is very small. Hence the references in this bibliography are drawn from the literature of general history, economic and business history, legal and social history and philosophy. The scope and range of its contents are broad - references are taken from texts as well as papers published in over 450 journals.

This book contains 53 nineteenth century American legal cases in which courts discussed accounting issues. Some are well known: Wood v. Drummer (1824) was the foundation for the idea that capital could not be returned to shareholders and it was this restriction which made it necessary to distinguish between income and capital. The famous case of 1849, Burnes v Pennell is often cited as the source of the rule that dividends cannot be paid except from profits. However, many of the cases covered in this book are not well-known. It is often assumed that few American legal cases on accounting matters were decided in the nineteenth century. However, many of the 53 cases included here preceded the earliest British legal cases that discussed accounting issues and they are interesting for several reasons. They show that government regulation of accounting pre-dated the modern regulatory ear. They also illustration that sometimes private contracts specified a particular accounting treatment and that accounting, therefore, served to define private rights. They also illustrate that American courts discussed accrual accounting problems as early as 1837 and that a cash concept of profits was not the norm.

This volume analyses and presents the results of the trade, service and financial operations between any given country and the rest of the world. Among other issues the volume discusses tax measures of the 1920s, ascertaining the trend of foreign assets, verifying economic theory, providing analysis of war and reconstruction problems, and discussing foreign investments from the USA, France, Canada and Britain.

The first Scottish book on accounting was published in 1683. That book heralded a century during which Scotland established its reputation as a land of accountants: a steady stream of books subsequently appeared from Scottish presses. This bibliography contains over 330 location entries, including 32 non-UK libraries. Periodical articles as well books are included.

This book examines the conceptual development of control in the literature of both management and accounting disciplines, from 1900 to 1980. In order to portray the development of control concepts over time, the chapters are organized into sections relating to the schools of thought from which they emanated and a model of control is constructed to represent each group of concepts and their hypothesised inter-relationships. Having traced the development of control models a comparative analysis of historical development in the two streams of management and accounting literature is undertaken. This analysis reveals a pronounced lag of accounting development behind that of management literature. The reasons for this are then discussed.

This volume collects together out of print and hard to find sources on the behavioural implications of accounting. It begins with the 1952 monograph, The Impact of Budgets on People by Chris Argyris, considered by many to mark the beginning of behavioural research in accounting and is followed by: a critique of the general state of accounting research in 1960 critical evaluation of Argyris' research and other behavioural studies discussion of the research activity in the behavioural aspects of accounting during the 1960s and 70s a comprehensive perspective on the development of behavioural accounting research in the 1980s including discussion of the division of behavioural accounting research into two branches.

This book concerns developments in the history of one accounting idea. It discusses cash flow accounting and, as such, relates what can only be described as a 'recycled' accounting problem. Cash flow accounting is the oldest form of monetary accounting, preceding the now conventional accrual and allocation-based accounting. Largely ignored in accounting literature since the early 1950s, this collection concentrates on Lee's work and provides the reader not only with a relevant selection of his writings on the subject since 1971, but also with a structured collection that explains the way in his thinking has developed on the subject and focuses on relevant influences.

Beginning with first principles, then discussing the origin and evolution of the debate over depreciation, capital and income, several related topics are addressed in this volume originally published in 1993. These include the allocation problem, interest rate approximations, issues concerning financial reporting and analysis and the meaning and economic impact of 'accounting error'. The underlying themes concern the importance of history and the need for an appreciation of basic concepts and relationships in accounting

When first published this volume represented the first concise, accessible UK text that explained the very complex changes that could be involved in an inflation accounting system. The new edition of the book (1978) was restructured and rewritten, with a substantial amount of material added so that it provides a comprehensive and accurate picture of the inflation accounting issues of the 1970s.

This study considers some of the factors which led to the emergence of accounting in the structure and practices of industrial relations in one particular company over a substantial period of time. It addresses the question as to the roles accounting numbers and systems were called upon to play in the conduct of industrial relations. The book also examines the effects of accounting practice and discourses upon industrial relations and explores the nature of a reciprocal type of influence. The research is based upon the Manchester engineering firm of Hans Renold and focuses on the decision to introduce a profit-sharing scheme within the company in 1920. The study examines the origins of this managerial initiative and its subsequent performance over a 10 year period.

The period 1835-1935 saw the development of the structure of local government which remains broadly intact today and also the growth of modern financial reporting procedures. This book examines the accounting implications of these developments and places them within the social and organisational contexts in which the events took place. The research is based on the contents of government reports, contemporary literature dating from the mid 1870s and the archival records of five municipal corporations - Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff and Manchester.

Published between 1965 and 1985 the papers in this collection address the problem of using accounting data to estimate the economic rate of return. The search for a solution to this problem has been an important episode in the history of accounting thought. The papers reprinted in this volume are the foundation of this intellectual effort. Ten articles and six notes and comments are reprinted here. Seven of the papers were published in UK journals and the rest in US publications. Bringing them together in one book will facilitate research on this important subject.