| The problem of this study was to record the evolution of the teaching of bookkeeping and accounting in colleges and universities in the United States during the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Secondary problems addressed in the study included identification of distinct historical periods, growth of the accountancy profession, teaching qualifications of bookkeeping and accounting faculty.; The objective of the study was to provide information to the following audiences: (a) graduate and undergraduate accounting and business education faculty; (b) accounting and bookkeeping faculty in secondary institutions; (c) graduate and undergraduate accounting and business education students; (d) professional bookkeepers, accountants, and auditors; (e) national business education and accounting policy-making organizations; (f) educational, business, and accounting historians; and (g) national secondary school, college, and university accrediting agencies for business education and accounting.; A review of related historical research studies in business education was conducted from the years 1900 to 1995. The earliest related historical study was found in 1933 and the latest related historical study was found in 1972. Historical studies, as a component of qualitative research, deal with almost every aspect of American education.; Unlike traditional methods, analysis of data in qualitative research methods occurs simultaneously with data collection. The data in qualitative historical research is found within documents. The historical researcher collects the documents, analyzes them, and asks more questions of them until a final picture of the event or chain of events emerges. The historical researcher then records such observations into a narrative of history or historiography.; The findings of the study are described by the evolutionary recording of major themes, movements, developments, and events related to a 300-year time frame of collegiate accounting instruction. The findings are placed into nine distinct historical periods originating with 1635 and concluding with 1995. The historical periods are identified as the Colonial Period (1635-1789), the Early National Period (1790-1820), the Transition Period (1821-1852), the Private Business College Period (1853-1880), the Collegiate Schools of Business Period (1881-1918), the Accountancy Profession Period (1919-1936), the Professional and Curricular Expansion Period (1937-1960), the Two-Year College and Technological Growth Period (1961-1979), and the Prelude to the 21st Century: The Transformation Period (1980-1995). |
