ABSTRACT
Goethe once wrote that (roughly translated), double entry accounting is one of the finest inventions of the human spirit (Chambers, 1983). Unfortunately he was joking. Accounting has a reputation for being boring. I must admit that, in the past, I have shared that view: I left the accounting practice on the day my articles expired (this was in the days of articled clerkship rather than training contracts) vowing never to enter an accountant’s office again. I did not quite keep this vow, but I have never since been employed in professional practice. I did, however, decide, after ten years as an academic economist, that accounting research had become interesting enough to persuade me to return to academic accounting, as Professor of Accounting at Edinburgh, in 1972. Since then, accounting in universities and in professional practice has expanded, changed, and become more interesting. In some respects, the extent of this change is such that I sometimes think that accounting is becoming too interesting, and this is the theme of my lecture.
