Accounting and business economics traditions in Finland - from a practical discipline into a scientific subject and field of research

The first three business schols in Finland were founded during the 1910s and 1920s. Today there are nine business school units with some 12000 students in Finland. Accounting forms the oldest and most fundamental branch of business economics. Bookkeeping and calculation were included from the very begining in the business school curriculum. Even today accounting has its own profile and areas of research and teaching among other functional and more comprehensive or synthetic branches of business economics. This article describes the development of accounting as an academic discipline and as a part of business economics education in Finland. This study is based on a variety of historical documents: business economics and accounting dissertations and other research studies, academic textbooks, articles in professional journals, study guides for business school programmes etc. Our aim is to produce a comprehensive picture of the development of accounting as an academic subject and a part of business economics in Finland.