Accounting History Special Interest Group

The Accounting History Special Interest Group (AHSIG) aims to develop and support accounting history scholars in Australia, New Zealand and beyond who engage in historical accounting research and teaching and to attract new scholars to the field. The AHSIG promotes the analysis of ideas in accounting history, and on historiography for accounting. The AHSIG further encourages research which contributes to informing public policy setting and regulation, and which augments knowledge in other fields such as business, management, finance and economic history.

The AHSIG encourages scholars who have an interest in all aspects of accounting history and is concerned with advancing an understanding of the interaction of accounting and its socio-economic and political environments within historical contexts.

The Accounting History is an AFAANZ journal proudly supported by the AHSIG and the AHSIG seeks to develop the international profile and reputation of the journal. You can access the journal and most recent Call for Papers for special issues by clicking HERE

The AHSIG also supports a series of activities, such as conferences, colloquia and symposia on accounting history to foster the development of the journal and of a community of accounting history researchers.

Among other events, the AHSIG supports:

the Accounting History International Conference - held biannually
the Accounting History Emerging Scholar Colloquium - held biannually and preceding the AHIC
the Accounting History Symposium - held annually and preceding the AFAANZ conference

Call for Research Proposals
The 25th Accounting History Symposium

Saturday, 4 July 2025, Time: 9.00 am -1.00 pm, Format: Face-to-face Venue: Pullman Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne, Australia

Following the resounding success of the 24th Accounting History Symposium, the Accounting History Special Interest Group (AHSIG) is delighted to announce its first event of 2026. The 25th Accounting History Symposium will take place on Saturday, 4 July 2025, at Pullman Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne, Australia. This year, we are honored to welcome Professor Karen McBride as our keynote speaker, with Dr Maryam Safari presiding as the session chair.

Professor Karen McBride is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Portsmouth. A qualified Chartered Accountant and Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, she has established an international reputation for her research on accounting history and the historical foundations of social, environmental, and ecological accounting. Her research further encompasses corporate governance and ethics, environmental and corporate social responsibility reporting, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in accounting. She currently serves as Chair of the Accounting History Special Interest Group of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) and as Co-Chair of the University of Portsmouth’s interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Heritage Innovation. Her contributions to the field have been recognised through annual prize-winning papers in the Accounting Historians Journal (2024) and Accounting History (2023). Professor McBride has also secured external research funding across all these areas from major bodies. She will deliver a keynote presentation titled “Stories, Narratives, and Golden Threads in Accounting History Research.” Drawing on her extensive body of work, her presentation will offer a critical examination of narrative construction and interpretive storytelling within accounting history.

In addition to this distinguished keynote, we invite scholars and researchers to participate by presenting their planned or ongoing research projects. Those interested are encouraged to submit a working paper or research proposal (maximum three pages, single-spaced), including the following details:

Project (working) title
Background (or scenario for investigation)
Main research objective in one sentence
Concise key research question(s)
Research methodology
Period selection
Limitations of the study
Expected (original) contribution

The due date for submission of research proposals is Sunday, 19 April 2026. The proposals should be sent to acchis.sig@gmail.com (please also copy in maryam.safari@rmit.edu.au and lina.xu@rmit.edu.au). Please leave a note in the email listing all authors in the specified order of authorship. In addition to the presentation of research proposals on accounting history, a panel of esteemed scholars will be in attendance to provide feedback and engage in discussions with participants. To recognize outstanding contributions, a $200 prize will be awarded to the best research proposal presented in person. The winner will be selected by the panel and announced at the symposium. Participants can register via the AFAANZ website, with the following registration fees applicable:

AHSIG members: $70
AHSIG non-members: $95

The registration fee will cover the catering, including morning tea and lunch.
We look forward to your participation at the 25th Accounting History Symposium.
Dr Maryam Safari
AHSIG Chair and Symposium Convenor (and Lina Xu, Deputy Chair and Deputy Convenor)

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23rd Accounting History Symposium

The 23rd Accounting History Symposium, held on Saturday, 5 July 2025 at the Sofitel Brisbane Central, was a resounding success.

The event featured a thought-provoking keynote presentation by Professor Wai-Fong Chua on “Temporalities as Hybridised Processes: Implications for Accounting History Research”. This was followed by four stimulating research proposal presentations that generated lively and constructive discussions among participants.

We extend our sincere thanks to all who presented, contributed, and attended, helping to foster another rich and engaging forum for the advancement of accounting history scholarship."

The twelfth Accounting History International Conference

The 12th Accounting History International Conference (12AHIC) took place from September 4 to 6, 2024, in the beautiful city of Siena, Italy. This event was hosted by the Department of Business and Law of the University of Siena in collaboration with the Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. The conference explored the theme: “Accounting for arts, culture and heritage in historical perspectives.”

The theme delved into the intersection of accounting with arts, culture, and heritage, providing a historical perspective that enriched the understanding of accounting practices. The Accounting History International Emerging Scholars’ Colloquium (AHIESC) was conducted on the first day of the conference, September 4, 2024. All attendees had ample opportunities to network with fellow researchers, academics, and professionals in the field of accounting history.

We are pleased to announce that the next Accounting History International Conference

(13th AHIC) will be held at the University of Wollongong in 2026. Further details regarding dates and registration will be provided in due course."

The Eleventh Accounting History International Conference

The Accounting History joint editors, the conference convenor and co-chairs of the technical committee of the 11th Accounting History International Conference (11AHIC) held in Portsmouth from 7th to 9th September 2022 wish to thank the AFAANZ Accounting History Special Interest Group of (AHSIG) and AFAANZ members for their support to this engaging face-to-face event. It was great that the AHSIG convenor and a few of its members could attend the conference in Portsmouth.

Seven contributions were presented at the Accounting History Emerging Scholars’ Colloquium held before the Conference. Two of the participants were from Australia and their attendance was possible due to the generous financial support provided by the AHSIG.

At the conference, 37 full papers from 15 national affiliations were presented through 15 conference streams. The conference had a plethora of highlights, including two highly engaging keynotes on industrial heritage (from Professor Luca Zan) and on Henry Benson, a well-known accounting professional in the African continent (by Professor Grietjie Verhoef). The conference program was completed by an informative panel on “What makes a Special Issue special” and a presentation by Dr Garry Scarlett of Portsmouth University on the historical information embedded in the animal and human remains of the Mary Rose warship.

The historical locations chosen by the convenor to best represent the glory of Portsmouth (the Warrior, the Mary Rose Museum and the Boathouse) provided a unique landscape to the social and networking moments of the conference.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, which occurred during the conference, gave a special historical imprint to this Portsmouth event.

If you haven’t already done so, please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for our latest updates:

Maryam Safari and Lina Xu

AHSIG Convenor and Deputy Convenor

Joining the Accounting History Special Interest Group

To become a member of the Accounting History SIG you will first need to become a member of AFAANZ. The fee for AFAANZ membership is AU$137.50 including GST for applicants residing in Australia and AU$125 for applicants residing outside Australia. Note that membership is based on a calendar year.

The fee for the Accounting History SIG is AU$22 including GST for applicants residing in Australia and AU$20 for applicants residing outside Australia. Click on the purchase button to gain access to this SIG. You may also "Join this Group" further below to be keep up to date with the latest news and events.

If you wish to receive the Accounting History Journal, then the Accounting History SIG fee is AU$99 including GST for applicants residing in Australia and AU$90 for applicants residing outside Australia.

Information on our Accounting History Journal can be accessed at http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ach

GOVERNANCE

Chair: Maryam Safari, RMIT University

Deputy-Chair: Lina Xu, RMIT University

Committee Member: Mona Nikidehaghani, University of Wollongong

Accounting History Special Interest Group