BA (Business Studies), MSc (Op. Res.), PhD (Acc. Ed.), Cert. TESOL, CA
Chair in Accounting History
- 51cg
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- Email Address
- alan.sangster@abdn.ac.uk
- Office Address
MacRobert 809
- School/Department
- Business School



External Memberships
Editor-in-Chief, Accounting Education (Routledge)
Trustee of The Academy of Accounting Historians
Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
Latest Publications
Digital Accounting History: Adoption of a Digitalized Historical Research Methodology
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 35-51Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
A Profession at a Crossroads—Insights from a Historical Lens
Accounting HorizonsContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
A critical history of double entry accounting 1150-1800
World Scientific, Singapore. 440 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Lodovico Flori's Treatise on Household Accounting for the Jesuit Order (1636): A Critical Translation
Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. 202 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Time to reboot accounting history – evidence from scholarship on double entry
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 368-391Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
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Prizes and Awards
2025 Le Prix Joseph Colleye d'Histoire de la comptabilité from the Association pour l'Histoire du management et des organisations, Paris, France.
The 2022 'Outstanding Accounting Educator Award' of the American Accounting Association.
The 2022 'Outstanding Contribution to Accounting & Finance Education Award' of the British Accounting & Finance Association
The 2021 ‘Barbara D. Merino Award for Excellence in Accounting History Publication’ from the Academy of Accounting Historians section of the American Accounting Association.
The 2015 ‘Hourglass Award’ of the Academy of Accounting Historians.
The 2014 ‘Premio Enrique Fernández Peña de Historia de la Contabilidad' from The Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA).
The 2013 British Accounting and Finance Association ‘Life-Time Achievement Award’.
The 2009 Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Accounting Education’ from the British Accounting Association Special Interest Group in Accounting Education.
The 1997 Award for ‘Excellence in Teaching Innovation’ from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
The 1995 Award for ‘Outstanding Educator’ from the Artificial Intelligence/Expert Systems Section of the American Accounting Association.
- Research
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Research Overview
Accounting History
Business History
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in History.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Research Specialisms
- Accounting
- History
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.
Current Research
History of Accounting, business practice, and business education in the Medieval, early modern, and modern periods (c.1200-2000)
- Publications
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Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 91 of 91
Digital Accounting History: Adoption of a Digitalized Historical Research Methodology
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 35-51Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
A Profession at a Crossroads—Insights from a Historical Lens
Accounting HorizonsContributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
A critical history of double entry accounting 1150-1800
World Scientific, Singapore. 440 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [ONLINE]
Lodovico Flori's Treatise on Household Accounting for the Jesuit Order (1636): A Critical Translation
Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. 202 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [ONLINE]
Time to reboot accounting history – evidence from scholarship on double entry
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 368-391Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
- [OPEN ACCESS]
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The Diffusion of Double Entry Bookkeeping before 1800—Establishing a New Research Agenda
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 95-113Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Special issues in Accounting History from the guest editors’ perspective
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 190-210Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The emergence of double entry bookkeeping
Economic History Review, vol. 78, no. 2, pp. 499-528Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting history in the digital age
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 3-6Contributions to Journals: Editorials- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Digitalising medieval accounting research: Andrea Barbarigo’s Venetian Cash Account 1430–1434
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 44-67Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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'Going digital': Its place in research into the history of modern accounting
Accounting History, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 7-22Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Unethical Peer Review
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 95-109Contributions to Journals: Review articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Bookkeeping, but not for profit: A special form of double entry in a 16th century Venetian charity
British Accounting Review, vol. 55, no. 5, 101175Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting and accountability practices in the obraje of San Ildefonso of Quito: An eighteenth century productive proto-capitalist model
Accounting History, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 58-89Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Vale Lúcia Lima Rodrigues
Accounting History, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 5-8Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Avoiding Whig interpretations in historical research: an illustrative case study
Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 1402-1430Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Lost in translation: Pacioli’s de computis et scripturis
Accounting History, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 311-342Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The Business Needs that Drove the Emergence of Double Entry: In Defense of Pacioli, again … It is Time to Remove Those Dark Glasses
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 93-109Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Basil Yamey (1919–2020): A reflection on his contribution to accounting history
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 67-70Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The Life and Works of Luca Pacioli (1446/7‒1517), Humanist Educator
Abacus, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 126-152Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Luca Pacioli and his art
De Computis, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 9-27Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting education and ethics in the 15th century
Accounting Ethics Education: Teaching Virtues and Values. 1st edition. Taylor and Francis AS, pp. 3-30, 28 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Manzoni’s sixteenth-century ‘Quaderno Doppio’: The evolution of accounting education towards modern times
Accounting History, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 580-601Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Impact of Research Assessment Exercises on Research Approaches and Foci of Accounting Disciplines in Australia
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1277-1302Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Monopolistic professional closure, family credentials and examination procedures in the Venetian College of Accountants (16th-17th century)
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 965-989Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The formation and use of a profit reserve at the end of the fourteenth century
Accounting History, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 69-88Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Insights into accounting education in a COVID-19 world
Accounting Education, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 431-562Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting as a tool of state ideology to control captive workers from a House of Correction
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 285-308Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting as a tool of State governance: The tutelage system of ‘Free Africans’ in Brazil between 1818 and 1864
Accounting History, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 383-401Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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De Raphaeli: Venetian double entry bookkeeping in 1475
Lomax Press, Stirling. 150 pagesBooks and Reports: Scholarly EditionsPacioli's lens: God, humanism, Euclid, and the rhetoric of double entry
Accounting review, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 299-314Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Earnings management, Ultra vires borrowing, and auditing of a scottish brewery 1884–1927
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 1-15Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Accounting and the state: The Portuguese-Brazilian empire
The Italian and Iberian Influence in Accounting History: The Imperative of Power. Bigoni, M., Funnell, W. (eds.). Taylor and Francis AS, pp. 259-283, 25 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Mapping forensic accounting in the UK
Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, vol. 28, pp. 43-56Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Strategic manoeuvres and impression management: communication approaches in the case of a crisis event
Business history, vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 903-924Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The Genesis of Double Entry Bookkeeping
Accounting review, vol. 91, no. 1, pp. 299-315Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
The earliest known treatise on double entry bookkeeping by Marino de Raphaeli
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 1-33Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Jacob Roll: The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations, Allen Lane, Penguin Books Ltd: London, 2014, 276 + xvii pp: ISBN: 9781846146411
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 139-156Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The Impact of Accounting Education Research
Accounting Education, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 423-444Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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You Cannot Judge a Book by Its Cover: The Problems with Journal Rankings
Accounting Education, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 175-186Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Libr. XV: Cotrugli and de Raphaeli on business and bookkeeping in the Renaissance
Lomax Press, Stirling. 212 pagesBooks and Reports: Scholarly EditionsPublishing characteristics, geographic dispersion and research traditions of recent international accounting education research
British Accounting Review, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 264-280Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Emerging areas within the accounting curriculum
The Routledge Companion to Accounting Education. Wilson, R. M. (ed.). 1st edition. Routledge, pp. 314-343, 31 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersUsing Pacioli's pedagogy and medieval text in today's introductory accounting course
Journal of Accounting Education, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 16-35Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Pacioli's Example Entries-a Conundrum Resolved?
Abacus, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 93-106Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
E-business internal audit: The elephant is still in the room!
Journal of Applied Accounting Research, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 43-63Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Factors that catalyse, facilitate and motivate the decision to implement activity-based costing in Jordanian industrial companies
Journal of Applied Accounting Research, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 18-36Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Teaching IFRS in the U.K.: Contrasting experiences from both sides of the university divide
Issues in Accounting Education, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 291-307Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Professional Accounting Body Affiliation: Shifting Priorities in the Transition from Student to Practitioner
Accounting Education, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 605-617Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The role of the state in the development of accounting in the Portuguese-Brazilian Empire, 1750-1822
Accounting History Review, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 161-184Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Locating the source of pacioli's bookkeeping treatise
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 97-110Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Pacioli’s forgotten book: The Merchant's Ricordanze
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 27-44Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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'Public-private partnerships': The Portuguese General Company of Pernambuco and Paraiba (1759)
Business history, vol. 54, no. 7, pp. 1142-1165Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
The ABS Journal Quality Guide: A Personal View
Accounting Education, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 575-580Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The implementation of management accounting innovations within the Jordanian industrial sector: The role of supply-side factors
European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, no. 35, pp. 72-85Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE]
The diffusion of activity-based costing in Jordanian industrial companies
Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 180-200Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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In defense of Pacioli
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 105-124Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Luca Pacioli: The father of accounting education
Accounting Education, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 423-438Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Liberalising the accounting curriculum
Accounting Education, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 323-327Contributions to Journals: Editorials- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Making our students more 'fit for purpose': A commentary on 'a role for the compulsory study of literature in accounting education'
Accounting Education, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 373-376Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Using accounting history and Luca Pacioli to put relevance back into the teaching of double entry
Accounting, Business and Financial History, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 23-39Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The ERA: A Brave New World of Accountability for Australian University Accounting Schools
Australian Accounting Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 24-37Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING (ABC) SYSTEMS WITHIN THE JORDANIAN INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS AND BARRIERS TO ABC IMPLEMENTATION
ACCOUNTING IN EMERGING ECONOMIES. Tsamenyi, M., Uddin, S. (eds.). Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 229-263, 35 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
Exporting the RAE: adoption of similar practices in Australia and New Zealand
Asian Review of Accounting, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 115-135Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Advice for Management Accountants in ERP Systems: Implementation, Use and Post-implementation Issues
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 95-101, 7 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
Background to the Study and Review of Prior Research
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 5-12, 8 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Introduction
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Forewords and PostscriptsManagement Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Summary and Conclusions
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Forewords and Postscripts- [ONLINE] DOI:
Research Methodology
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 13-88, 76 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
The Impact of ERP Systems on Management Accountants and Their Work
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 103-115, 13 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
The Motivations for ERP Deployment
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 89-91, 3 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
The Role of Management Accountants in the ERP System Implementation Process
Management Accounting in Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. CHARTERED INST MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS, pp. 93-94, 2 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI:
Pacioli and humanism: Pitching the text in Summa Arithmetica
Accounting History, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 183-206Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The market for Luca Pacioli’s Summa Arithmetica
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 111-134Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The printing of pacioli’s summa in 1494: How many copies were printed?
Accounting Historians Journal, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 125-145Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Translating theory into practice: Facilitating work-based learning through IT
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 50-58Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The Perrow framework and the selection of management accounting tasks for expert system development
New Review of Applied Expert Systems and Emerging Technologies, vol. 5, pp. 129-139Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE]
The relationship between information technology and corporate financial reporting
Information Technology & People, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 11-30Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Using the world wide web in accounting research: A huge step forward or a new constraint?
British Accounting Review, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 395-407Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Strategy and impacts of expert systems for bank lending
Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 455-461Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
Editorial Comment: The integration of expert systems within the accounting curriculum
Accounting Education, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 211-216Contributions to Journals: Editorials- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The bank of Scotland's COMPASS-The future of bank lending?
Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 457-468Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The bank of Scotland's lending adviser expert system, COMPASS
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI:
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AI Supply and Demand Agents on the WWW
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE]
The adoption of IT in management accounting: The expert systems experience
Journal of Information Technology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 159-169Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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How well do accountancy students understand a set of accounts?
Accounting Education, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 53-70Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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CAPITAL INVESTMENT APPRAISAL TECHNIQUES: A SURVEY OF CURRENT USAGE
Journal of business finance & accounting, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 307-332Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Computer-based instruction in accounting education
Accounting Education, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13-32Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Computer‐based learning in UK accounting education: to support or to supplant?
British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 136-138Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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The automation of accounting practice
Journal of Information Technology, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 65-75Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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Knowledge-based learning within the accounting curriculum
The British Accounting Review, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 243-261Contributions to Journals: Review articles- [ONLINE] DOI:
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