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The main aim of this paper is to illustrate the importance of avoiding Whig interpretations in historical research. It does so by highlighting examples of what may occur when this is not done. The paper also aims to promote interdisciplinarity, in the form of working with those from other disciplines, as a means to avoid this occurring.

This paper includes an in-depth study of the bookkeeping and financial reporting of two 18th century Portuguese state-sponsored companies using archival sources. The companies were selected because of conflicting insights across disciplines concerning the quality of their bookkeeping and financial reporting – historians have been very critical, while accounting historians have seen little wrong. These differences of opinion have never previously been investigated. The authors demonstrate how information was distributed among the account books and other records of the two companies. The approach adopted enabled a reader to fully understand the recorded economic events. The authors also present and explain the procedures, criteria and accounting terminology used in their annual reports.

This paper demonstrates how easy is to inadvertently adopt a Whig interpretation of accounting history when the focus of interest is something of which the principal researcher has insufficient understanding or expertise. It also illustrates how important it is to embrace interdisciplinarity by working with those from other discipline to avoid doing so.

The conclusions from the case study are company-specific and cannot be generalised beyond those companies. However, the implications of this study go beyond the companies in its illustration of the importance of fully understanding historical evidence within its own context.

This paper unveils primary archival sources never previously presented in the literature. It also contributes to the literature by providing an evidence-based justification for the calls previously made to accounting historians to study accounting in its social context and engage with historians from other disciplines.

This chapter evolved out of the situation of a professor and his doctoral student having numerous discussions regarding her students’ concern for oppression and their desire for social activism. It became obvious that the cultural environment of the classroom was permitting these students to have a very real part in constructing their knowledge and taking ownership of this process, thus giving them the freedom and courage to act. The purpose of this chapter is to reveal, through the voice of the teacher and her students, how a class of marginalized third graders demonstrates their knowledge of social justice concepts and also perform superbly on their standardized reading and math assessments.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different times and freezing temperatures on the antioxidant activity of raw human milk (HM) and the impact of light by different packaging on retinol level and the antioxidant activity of pasteurized HM.

Donor milks were homogenized to form the pool of the experimental study characterized by the evaluation of the effects of time (0, 2, 4, 8 and 15 days) freezing temperatures (−3°C, −8°C and −18°C) and the interference of the type of packaging on the antioxidant activity and retinol levels of HM.

The existing studies do not reveal the real impact of HM storage conditions adopted by human milk banks (HMB) in Brazil on their compounds, mainly in relation to the effects of temperature and freezing time and the incidence of light on retinol levels and antioxidant activity. In view of the already documented importance of these compounds for the growth, development and health of children, it is extremely important to assess their stability according to the procedures adopted by the banks. It has been observed in this study that lower freezing temperatures (−18°C) further preserve the antioxidant activity. It was found that the amber and transparent vials wrapped with aluminum foil allowed for greater retinol stability of HM, with values of 2.501±0.757 µmol/L and 4.991±0.825 µmol/L, respectively. On the contrary, there was no significant influence on antioxidant activity.

It is suggested that HMB store milk at lower temperatures and use glass jars that block the passage of light.

This study aims to identify the most profitable segment of construction firms amongst real estate, industrial construction and infrastructure. This paper also examines the determinants of profitability of real estate, industrial construction and infrastructure firms.

The data of 67 firms (20 real estate, 21 industrial construction and 26 infrastructure) is collected for a 15-year period (2003–2017). Two models are created using total return on assets (ROA) and return on invested capital (ROIC) as dependent variables.. Leverage, liquidity, age, growth, size and efficiency of the firm are identified as firm-specific independent variables. Two economic variables, i.e. growth in GDP and inflation, are also used as independent variables. Initially, the models are tested for stationarity, multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity, and finally, the coefficients are estimated using Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation to account for heteroscedasticity and endogeneity.

The results suggest that industrial construction is the most profitable segment of construction, followed by real estate and infrastructure. Their profitability is positively driven by liquidity, efficiency and leverage. The real estate firms are somewhat less profitable compared to industrial construction firms, and their profitability is positively driven by liquidity. The infrastructure firms have low ROA and ROIC.

The real estate, infrastructure and industrial construction drastically differ from each other. The challenges involved in real estate, infrastructure and industrial construction are altogether different. Therefore, authors present a comparative analysis of the profitability of real estate, infrastructure and industrial construction segments of the construction and compare their determinants of profitability. The results provided in the study are robust and reliable because of the use of a superior econometric model, i.e. Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation with robust estimates, which accounts for heteroscedasticity and endogeneity in the model.