This book, first published in 1986, collects together the papers presented at the Fifth International Congress on Accounting in 1938. Cutting edge research at the time, these analyses now form an integral part of the history of accounting.

This book, first published in 1986, collects together the papers presented at the Fifth International Congress on Accounting in 1938. Cutting edge research at the time, these analyses now form an integral part of the history of accounting.

Accounting for the Holocaust: Enabling the Final Solution reveals how accounting practices allowed the attempted annihilation of Jews by the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists to be carried out with machine-like efficiency and devoid of any moral considerations. This largely hidden aspect of the Holocaust will allow a wide range of readers, both academic and across many sectors of the general population, to understand how the systematic murder of more than six million Jews was expedited by accounting practices and the information that these produced by allowing the humanity of those killed to be denied when they became mere numbers in a process. Readers will gain a new understanding of how the enactment of the scale of the Holocaust was made possible by the way in which accounting practices as “technologies of death” were used to reduce Jews to a life without value. The numerical calculations, techniques, and reports that constitute accounting practices allowed the systematic murder of Jews to be drained of any considerations that would imply that the numbers and costings were related to prescient human beings. These technologies of death also allowed those who managed and organised the murder of Jews to absolve themselves of the actual killings.

The Routledge Companion to Accounting History shows how the seemingly innocuous practice of accounting has pervaded human existence in fascinating ways at numerous times and places; from ancient civilisations to the modern day, and from the personal to the political. Placing the history of accounting in context with other fields of study, the collection gives invaluable insights to subjects such as the rise of capitalism, the control of labour, gender and family relationships, racial exploitation, the functioning of the state, and the pursuit of military conflict. An engaging and comprehensive overview also examining geographical differences, this Companion is split into key sections, which explore: changing technologies used to represent financial and other data historical development of accounting theory and practice accounting institutions and those who perform accounting accountancy and the economy accounting, society, and culture the role of accounting in the government, protection and financing of states including chapters on the important role played by accountancy in religious organizations, a review of how the discipline is portrayed in fine art and popular culture, and analysis of sharp practice and corporate scandals. The Routledge Companion to Accounting History has a breadth of coverage that is unmatched in this growing area of study. Bringing together leading writers in the field, this is an essential reference work for any student of accounting, business and management, and history.

First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 1997. Accountants in the English-speaking world have accorded the development of the Anglo-American accounting profession a great deal of attention. Perhaps only in the Netherlands has a like interest in the history of the public accounting profession manifested itself, although even there without the same degree of preoccupation as in the English-speaking world. Hugh Brian Markus’s History of the German Public Account-ing Profession, accordingly, is a particularly welcome addition to the accounting history literature. In the original German, it marked new attention to the history of the German public accounting profession; and in the English translation offered here, it provides English- speaking audiences with an insight into the development of a public accounting profession different from their own.