ABSTRACT
In this chapter the focus is on one crucial site of accounting practice: the multinational professional service firms (the Big Four), and the historical studies that have examined their emergence and development. Six characteristic contributions of these histories are identified and their strengths and limitations are pointed out. First, most histories serve as celebrations of individual firms, practitioners and the service of the audit function. Second, clients are presented as the motor force in the growth and characteristics of the multinational firms. The third theme is the contribution of elite practitioners to the development of the accounting profession. Fourth, histories recount the spread of practitioners and accounting knowledges across geographical space. The fifth theme is the account of the nature of the practice of accounting firms – from bankruptcy, to audit, to management consultancy. Finally, the histories account for the formal organisational structures of the firms. Later in the chapter suggestions are offered for further research on firm histories: histories as managed organisations, the experience and practices of work, and the firms’ role as cultural and political actors.
