ABSTRACT
The field of accounting history itself has a long and distinguished history, characterised by increasingly high levels of sophisticated scholarship. It is widely canvassed that with the advent of Critical Accounting Historical Research, CAHR in the 1980s, the field experienced a significant change in both the extent and richness of the insights generated. Contributions from within three paradigms – Economic rationalism; Foucauldianism; and Marxism – have shaped the greatest part of the CAHR literature. Critical accounting scholars have scrutinised most constituencies that comprise what can be labelled 'accountancy', both historically and currently. A major public sector issue in the UK has been the nationalisation of industrial sectors and other enterprises under private control and the privatisation of what had been formerly nationalised. A delicate balance exists between accountants/auditors as the guardians of the public interest and their own self-interest and that of their firms.
