Charles Eugene Bedaux is best known by social scientists for his labour organisation method. This method was a great success with companies during the interwar years, thus enabling its author to set up a multinational business consultancy. The Bedaux method was, however, violently contested by...

Les chercheurs en gestion ou en histoire de la gestion sont parfois confrontés à des ouvrages qui connaissent un grand succès alors que leur intérêt paraît limité. Cet article essaie de comprendre les raisons de tels succès. Nous avons pour cela travaillé sur un exemple historique...

Under the Ancien Régime France, collecting taxes was a business affair confided by the King to businessmen. After several unfruitful attempts to have his revenue under control, the King finally imposed, in 1788, the centralisation of the Treasury and the use of double entry bookeeping in that...

En France, le rythme de production de travaux d'histoire de la gestion des organisations augmente de façon significative depuis une dizaine d'années. C'est l'occasion d'un travail pluridisciplinaire fructueux entre gestionnaires, historiens, économistes et sociologues. Cet article tente donc...

This paper sets out to examine the development, in Britain and France prior to 1880, of industrial accounting, defined for the purposes of this paper as the practice of cost calculation within an accounting system based on double entry bookkeeping. Similarities and differences between the two...

Approximately 40 international congresses of accountants took place between 1889 and 2002. Before World War II, accountants were divided between two international networks: a group of Latin countries and a group led by the USA. Only the latter continued their activity after World War II. From...

Many researchers in management or in history of management often work on best sellers whereas the interest of such books could seem limited. This article tries to explain the reasons of the success. We have studied the historical case of the book of Eugène Léautey and Adolphe Guilbault, La...