Doctoral research [1985, Vol. 12, no. 2]

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 12, Number 2 Fall 1985
DOCTORAL RESEARCH
Maureen H. Berry, Editor UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Two themes have been selected for this review of recent disser-tations: the issue of financial accountability, mainly discussed in the context of the public sector, and the conjoint development of technological, organizational, and labor structures in industrial set-tings.
Humma's study of Eric Kohler provides the lead, reminding us of the high priority he accorded the accountability function and the high moral standards it imposes. While we can but speculate as to how he would assess, and respond to, the recent triumph of user needs over stewardship as accounting's main preoccupation, his written records suggests that he would search for ways to bring these two concepts together in some fair combination.
What can happen to accountability when public management is contracted out to private interests is illustrated in Hoyt's study of the abuse of public power in New York City during the mid-nine-teenth century. The New Yorkers took to the courts, forging the system of legal restraints in the public interest which is the hall-mark of accounting in government today. In Lille, on the other hand, the French bourgeoisie took to the streets when faced with taxation inequities, forcing the town council out and looking for their own special interest protection. Still, as Bossenga points out, those were revolutionary times and the merchants and manufac-turers ultimately gained their social advantages through public ser-vice rather than legal rights.
Taxation problems are taken up for the third time in Smith's study of experiments in Chinese public entrepreneurship during the Sung dynasty. Faced with an escalating defense budget and a drastic need for cavalry horse, the state hit on the successful notion of trading tea for equine imports. This approach raised prosperity all around and was only abandoned when the enemy blocked the export trade routes. So, the state was forced to return to the tra-ditional approach of making cash purchases financed through tax-ation, with ruinous effects on the tea growers and taxpayers.