Strategies in the development of accounting history as an academic discipline

Accounting history has emerged as an academic discipline over the last 40 years within English speaking countries. There is now a critical mass of researchers, dedicated journals and conferences, and a significant body of literature that is increasing in scope and depth. This article examines the strategies that, ex post , can be seen as important in developing accounting history as a discipline. Three strategies are identified: (1) making accounting history relevant (to education, standard-setting, and organizational memory/identity), (2) making accounting history controversial (by identifying positive and negative exemplars, providing historical critiques of mainstream research, and encouraging methodological/ theoretical pluralism within accounting history), and (3) institutionalizing accounting history (by developing academic associations, journals and conferences, and embedding accounting history within a network of supporting organizations including universities, professional associations, libraries, research centers and publishers). The article concludes by identifying the weak points in the disciplinary project.