Edited by Michael Chatfield, DBA, and Richard Vangermeersch, PhD

Published by Garland Publishing, Inc. 649 pages, $95.00 Reviewed by Alexander A. H. Bohtling, CPA, retired from Deloitte & Touche LLP

This book covers a very wide time frame of accounting history, presented in alphabetical order. As mentioned in the book's introductory chapter, this encyclopedia is compiled for a variety of readers, including both junior and senior accounting majors, degree candidates, and accounting professors and for research in public accounting firms and large corporations.

The data in this book is presented in numerous brief chapters, designated as entities. The authors of each entity, for the most part, are from the academic world. Editor Michael Chatfield is a professor of accounting at Southern Oregon State College and editor Richard Vangermeersch is a professor of accounting at the University of Rhode Island.

Each entity is followed by a number of related biographies. There are some four hundred such entities in this book, some of the titles being­accounting education in the united states, accounting research bulletins, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Big Six accounting firms, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination--the early years (1896-1930), Chartered Accountant examinations in England and Wales, definition of accounting, external auditing, independence of external auditors, Federal government accounting, Financial Accounting Standards Board, fraud and auditing, internal auditing, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Institute of Internal Auditors, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Treadway Commission.

Some of the pioneers in accounting, including Luca Pacioli in Italy, Charles Waldo Haskins, Elijah Watt Sells, and George Oliver May in the United States are outlined.

The growth of accounting in a number other countries is briefly covered.

In your reviewer's opinion, The History of Accounting covers the subject in a very comprehensive and easy-to-read format. *

BOOK REVIEW: THE HISTORY OF ACCOUNTING, AN INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

Edited by Michael Chatfield, DBA, and Richard Vangermeersch, PhD