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“Fumifugium: Or the inconvenience of the Aer and Smoake of London Dissipated”: emancipatory social accounting in 17th century London

Jill Atkins (Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK)
Karen McBride (School of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK)

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 7 December 2021

Issue publication date: 30 May 2022

408

Abstract

Purpose

This paper extends the nature and relevance of exploring the historical roots of social and environmental accounting by investigating an account that recorded and made visible pollution in 17th century London. John Evelyn's Fumifugium (1661) is characterised as an external social account that bears resemblance to contemporary external accounting particularly given its problematising intentionality.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretive content analysis of the text draws out the themes and features of social accounting. Emancipatory accounting theory is the theoretical lens through which Evelyn's social account is interpreted, applying a microhistory research approach. We interpret Fumifugium as a social account with reference to the context of the reporting accountant.

Findings

In this early example of a stakeholder “giving an account” rather than an “account rendered” by an entity, Evelyn problematises industrial pollution and its impacts with the stated intention of changing industrial practices. We find that Fumifugium was used in challenging, resisting and seeking to solve an environmental problem by highlighting the adverse consequences to those in power and rendering new solutions thinkable.

Originality/value

This is the first research paper to extend investigations of the historical roots of social and environmental accounting into the 17th century. It also extends research investigating alternative forms of account by focusing on a report produced by an interested party and includes a novel use of the emancipatory accounting theoretical lens to investigate this historic report. Fumifugium challenged the lack of accountability of businesses in ways similar to present-day campaigns to address the overwhelming challenge of climate change.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper arises from a long-term interest in the roots of environmental reporting and has evolved from independent research but has also been inspired by discussions with their colleagues especially Michael John Jones and Christopher Napier. The authors thank their colleagues who attended a presentation of this paper for the staff seminar series at Aberdeen Business School (2021) especially Alan Sangster and Bill Jackson and at King's College London, especially Simon Tan, Yong Li and Mingzhu Wang. The authors thank people who commented on the paper at the World Congress of Accounting Historians, held in Newcastle, July 2012, especially Gary Cunningham. The authors would also like to thank Ian Thomson for his input into early drafts of this paper. Last but not least, the authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that have led to the final version of this paper.

Citation

Atkins, J. and McBride, K. (2022), "“Fumifugium: Or the inconvenience of the Aer and Smoake of London Dissipated”: emancipatory social accounting in 17th century London", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 1262-1286. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-01-2021-5108

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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