Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Analytic Narratives In Accounting History: Combining Formal Models And Small Sample Research., Alan J. Richardson

Odette School of Business Publications

Purpose The paper provides an introduction to the “analytic narratives project” in political science that argues for the use of formal models as a basis for narrative history. The approach is illustrated in an accounting context by reinterpreting the timeline of Scottish professionalization presented in Lee’s (2006) innovative counterfactual history.

Design/methodology/approach Analytic narratives use formal models to create expectations that can be contrasted with actual events. The use of formal models provides a bridge between theory and small sample research that allows theory to inform case analysis and case analysis to contribute to theory development. Lee’s (2006) timeline is reinterpreted …

“As If”: Equifinality, Institutional Work, And Accounting In The Eastern Mail Service Arbitrations 1866-1905, Alan J. Richardson

Odette School of Business Publications

I examine the negotiations among the UK and its colonies to allocate the cost of operating the Eastern Mail Service (UK to India, Hong Kong and Australia) among national post offices benefitting from its service. Four key sets of negotiations are identified during the period 1866 – 1905. I consider how negotiations were affected by the changing institutional context of the postal system and relationships between the UK and its colonies during this period; in particular, the negotiations capture the confrontation between the liberal social and economic philosophies that had risen to prominence within the UK and the existence of …