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Elliott L. Slocum and
Alfred R. Roberts GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
THE NEW YORK SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTS-A BEGINNING
Abstract: Current developments in accounting education are the result of the vision and efforts of the early pioneers in public accounting practice. Clearly these accountants wanted to elevate public accounting to a professional level. Their belief that collegiate accounting training was the foundation on which to build the profession of public accountancy led to the establishment of the New York School of Accounts. The New York School of Accounts was a success though it operated for only one year. It illustrated a commitment to education and un-doubtedly influenced the later development of university and college accounting programs.
The teaching of accounting and business subjects in universities and colleges is primarily a twentieth century phenomenon in the United States. We have recently witnessed the establishment of several schools of accountancy and increasing debate concerning professional accounting education. These developments are the culmination of a process begun approximately a century ago with the establishment of the first organization of professional accoun-tants in the United States and its effort to establish a school of accountancy. In this paper, we trace the efforts of the American Association of Public Accountants to establish the New York School of Accounts.
Harry C. Bentley, in listing the stages of development in book-keeping instruction in the United States, indicates that university instruction began about 1881.1 This date was undoubtedly chosen because the Wharton School of Finance and Economy was estab-lished in 1881 at the University of Pennsylvania. No other success-ful schools of commerce were established until 1898, and there were only seven such institutions at the close of 1900.2 Several un-successful schools of business or commerce predated the Wharton School.
A school of commerce was established in 1851 at the University of Louisiana, now Tulane University, but it was discontinued in
