ABSTRACT
This view of the history of accounting – and of accounting practice in particular – is increasingly prevalent (e.g. Burchell et al. 1980; Cooper and Sherer 1984; Tinker 1985): ‘the technical practices of accounting must be understood, not as the expression of some transcendental rationality, but as reflection and reinforcement of social, political, and economic relationships’ (Bryer 1993: 649).
