Building upon panel discussion held at the sixth Accounting History International Conference, a resounding “yes” is offered in response to the question of whether accounting history matters. However, reflecting the viewpoint that accounting history can and should matter more, various suggestions are presented for advancing the quality, relevance and significance of historical research in accounting, commencing with the need to redress persistent misconceptions about the discipline. Practical strategies for enhancing the impact of accounting history scholarship are then developed around the themes of promoting its contemporary relevance and implications, fostering engagement with diverse groups of scholars, writing accounting history in informative and engaging ways, and articulating and developing appropriate methodologies. Finally, the role of accounting historians as “change agents” is explored and advocated.

This work provides an analysis of published historical research on accounting and accountability in local government (LG) and in public organizations that have links to LG. Within this context, the study identifies the main themes and trends in this historical research, the extent of adoption of particular theoretical perspectives, the nature of sources examined, the periods of time investigated, and the main contributions of published research on accounting’s past within LG settings. By so doing, this article highlights possible future research topics and makes a call for rigorous and robust research on the development of systems of accounting and accountability in LG around the globe. Such research will recognize that accounting, besides being perceived as a technical practice, is also a social practice, with implications for organizational and social functioning.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to look at the adoption of double entry bookkeeping at the Royal Treasury, Portugal, on its establishment in 1761 and the factors contributing to this development. The Royal Treasury was the first central government organization in Portugal to adopt double entry bookkeeping and was a crucial first step in the institutionalisation of the technique in Portuguese public administration.Design/methodology/approach: Set firmly in the archive, this paper adopts new institutional sociology (NIS) to inform the findings of the local, time‐specific accounting policy and practice at the Portuguese Royal Treasury.Findings: Embedded within the broader European context, this study identifies the key pressures exerted upon the Royal Treasury on its formation in 1761, which resulted in major accounting change within Portuguese central government from that date. The study provides further evidence of the importance of the state in the institutionalization of accounting practices by means of coercive pressures and highlights for Portugal the importance of individual actors who, as powerful change agents, made key decisions that influenced accounting change.Originality/value: This study examines a major instance of accounting change in European central government and broadens the application of NIS in accounting history research to a different country – Portugal – and to a different time – the eighteenth century. It also serves to illuminate the difficulties of collecting pertinent evidence pertaining to this long‐dated time period in identifying certain forms of institutional pressures.

Purpose: This article centres on the pertinence of redefining accounting for tomorrow, particularly for facilitating the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, thereby, for shaping a better world. In aspiring for accounting to reach its full potential as a multidimensional technical, social and moral practice, this paper aims to focus on ideas, initiatives and proposals for realising accounting’s future potential and responsibilities. Design/methodology/approach: The study deploys a further developed “strategic implementation framework”, initially proposed by Carnegie et al. (2023), with an emphasis on accounting serving “the public interest” so as “to enable the flourishing of organisations, people and nature” (Carnegie et al., 2021a, p. 69; 2021b). It depicts strategies towards the future of accounting and the world. Findings: Significant opportunities are identified for accounting and accountants, working closely with a diversity of stakeholders, to become alert to and cognisant of the nature, roles, uses and impacts of accounting. The evidence presented notes a predominant inattention of accounting and accountants to the SDGs despite the deteriorating state of our social and natural environment. Research limitations/implications: Whilst this article examines other articles in this special issue (SI), there is no substitute for carefully reading, reflecting on and deliberating upon these articles individually. Originality/value: The time for accounting to focus on creating a better world can no longer be extended. Accounting’s full potential will not be realised by remaining in a narrow and complacent, technicist state.

This paper introduces to the English-language literature the Aula do Coméercio (School of Commerce) which was established in Lisbon in 1759. This school was a product of the Portuguese Enlightenment period and provided a model for development of similar government-sponsored schools across Europe. Our principal objective is to provide a comprehensive description of the school by outlining why it was established, how it operated, what it taught, what effects it had, and why it closed in 1844. It is important to gain an understanding of the School of Commerce because it was an important milestone in the development of commercial education in eighteenth century Europe. The School has attracted considerable notoriety, especially in the Portuguese-language literature, where it is claimed to be the world's first government-sponsored school to specialise in the teaching of commerce, including accounting.