The letter is the formal mechanism for communication in the business community. Even contemporary advances in electronic mail have not yet displaced the legitimacy invested in this form of correspondence. However, its very functionality has detached it from the fabric of its social history. This...

Purpose – This 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/approach – The paper draws on the archival records of Hoare and Company. Founded in the seventeenth century,...

Georgian architecture dominates much of the urban vista of the British Isles and is also evident in many former British colonies. A product of the eighteenth century, it is an architectural style richly embedded in its social and political context. The defining feature of a Georgian building: a...

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....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the use of the term accountability in the twenty‐first century and its role in “remaking the world in favour of the most powerful” using the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Lacan. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – This paper seeks to extend the development of the historical accounting research agenda further into the area of popular culture. The work examines the discourses that surrounded the drinking of alcohol in nineteenth century Britain and explores how an accounting failure disrupted...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore accounting across time and space via novels. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses distant readings. Findings – The paper reveals peculiarities and commonalities of the work of Certified Public Accountants 70 years ago and now. Originality/value...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that...

Purpose – The accountant has been characterised in popular culture as dull and boring. Accounting scholarship consistently describes this stereotype as negative. The purpose of this research is to enhance our understanding of this stereotype by comparing the characterisation of the accountant...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the Official Scrutineer in the annual film awards ceremony of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a role currently occupied by the audit firm Deloitte. The case of BAFTA provides an illustrative example of the...