The bank clerk in victorian society: the case of Hoare and Company

PurposeThis paper aims to consider the role of the bank clerk in the Victorian era and to provide insights into clerical life in a London bank during the period.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the archival records of Hoare and Company. Founded in the seventeenth century, it is the oldest surviving independent bank in the UK.FindingsDrawing on the company's archival records, the paper examines issues such as recruitment, house rules, acts of paternalism and the overwhelming concern with maintaining respectability. While Hoare's clerks humorously referred to themselves as the Association of the Sons of Toil, the records support the literature in revealing the relatively cosseted career of the bank clerk within Victorian clerical circles. He generally enjoyed a higher salary, longer holidays and more favourable working conditions than his clerical counterparts. It was therefore a highly sought after position. Only those of impeccable character however, were recruited into its ranks.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests the potential significance of Victorian values to the recruitment and general working conditions of contemporary members of the financial community.Originality/valueThe paper's value lies in supplementing the existing literature with further insights into the life of the Victorian bank clerk.</jats:sec

“Going to the movies”: accounting and twentieth century cinema

Purpose – Since its emergence in the early twentieth century, cinema has acquired a cultural identity. As purveyor of light entertainment, the local movie palace sold escapism at a cheap price. It also acted as an important social apparatus that regulated everyday mannerisms and appearance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the box office ledger of a UK picture house and to consider the role of the accounting document as a medium through which both local and broader social and historical norms can be reflected.Design/methodology/approach – The paper primarily employs archival sources. It examines the box office ledger of the Edinburgh Playhouse cinema for the period 1929-1973. This ledger is held within the National Archive of Scotland. Secondary sources are also drawn upon to provide a social and historical context to the study.Findings – The analysis of the box office ledger illustrates the potential value of an accounting document as a source of social history. Not only does this single ledger mirror the defining moments in British cinema history, it also helps inform the conception of what constitutes accounting, shapes the perception of contemporary strategic management accounting rhetoric, and further an appreciation of the relationship between accounting and everyday life.Originality/value – The entertainment industry has been largely ignored within accounting scholarship. Such neglect is lamentable given both the scale of the industry and its impact on contemporary culture. This paper is an attempt to redress this neglect by examining one component of the entertainment business, cinema, through the medium of an accounting document

Beyond the boring grey:The construction of the colourful accountant

The accounting profession has long laboured under the weight of the stigma of the accounting stereotype. This unappealing persona may pose a potential problem for recruitment into the profession. How is the gregarious graduate to be tempted into the tentacles of the dull and the dreary? Drawing on Goffman's work on stigma and impression management, this paper examines the recruitment literature of the ‘big four’ accounting firms and six of the professional institutes in an attempt to unravel the techniques deployed by the profession to camouflage the spectre of the stereotype. The investigation reveals how the recruitment discourse, an important stage in the process of professional socialization, is used to construct an image of the trendy and fun loving accountant. Through text and image, a carefully orchestrated campaign of impression management casts aside the boring bookkeeper in favour of an altogether more colourful characterisation

Accounting, Soci(et)al Risks, and Public Reason: Governmental Risk Discourses About the ILVA Steel Plant in Taranto (Italy)

The case of the ILVA steel plant in Taranto represents an example of con- trasting, incommensurable sustainability issues, explored in terms of “social” and “societal” risks (Asenova et al. in Managing the risks of public spending cuts in Scotland, 2013; Redistribution of social and societal risk: the impact on individuals, their networks and communities, 2015) [Asenova et al. (2015) refer to social risks as the risks of unemployment, and to societal risks as environmental and health risks.]. The case of ILVA has received significant attention for the great amount of dangerous pollutants spread in the environment, as well as the evidence of higher illness and mortality rates in the districts nearest to the plant. In July 2012, the Italian Judiciary halted activity in the steel plant. Four months after, the Italian Government declared the steel plant site as a “Strategic National Interest Site”, and allowed the company to restart its activity. Drawing on governmentality (Foucault in Questions of method, 1991), the paper aims to explore the role of accounting—here broadly intended as calculative practices (Miller in Soc Res 68:379–396, 2001)—in moulding ministerial discourse to support decisions when the governance of contrasting risks is needed to safeguard public interest. Supported by discourse analysis of governmental speech, the research shows that the Italian Government based its decision on various experts’ risk appraisals: accounting shaped governmental discourse by giving more visibility and relevance to “social” risks (i.e. unemployment, economic development, produc- tivity and competitiveness risks), while silencing “societal” ones (i.e. environmental and health risks). Focusing on a case of incommensurable contrasting issues, the findings contribute to show that accounting concurrently plays a significant role in government decisions legitimizing the business continuity through the creation of a specific risk discourse