Accounting concepts in the construction of social status and privilege: a microhistorical study of an early Australian convict
While understandings and applications of accounting concepts in convict, colonial Australiaproduced economic consequences, these notions also shaped social perceptions and generatedsocial outcomes. Presenting a microhistorical study of early convict transportee George Best,the research demonstrates...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Wollongong
2007-12-01
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| Series: | Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal |
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| Online Access: | http://ro.uow.edu.au/aabfj/vol1/iss4/1 |
| Summary: | While understandings and applications of accounting concepts in convict, colonial Australiaproduced economic consequences, these notions also shaped social perceptions and generatedsocial outcomes. Presenting a microhistorical study of early convict transportee George Best,the research demonstrates how conceptualisations of accounting, together with rudimentaryaccounting measures and accountability reports, were implicated in the construction ofnotions of this convict’s success and respectability. The relevant historical economic,political, and social environment, as well as modern-day historians’ opinions andinterpretations, are shown to interact with the use made and significance of accountingconcepts, such as wealth, profit, assets and capital, in the selected convict’s transfigurementfrom an individual of the ‘criminal class’ to wealthy, well respected landholder. Utilising aplurality of philosophical perspectives to derive meaning from the data, the study revealedthat rather than the application of accounting concepts serving merely to perpetuate socialclass, it functioned to emancipate this convict, both literally and figuratively, as well as toenable privilege. |
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| ISSN: | 1834-2000 1834-2019 |