This is a collection of 17 previously published articles on contemporary accounting history from 1962 to 2007, focusing mainly on the evolution of the standard-setting process, biographies of major accounting writers, and on the evolution of the accountancy profession and audit practice, together with a lengthy introduction by the author.

Introduction. Preface. Acknowledgements 1. "Replacement Cost: Member of the Family, Welcome Guest, or Intruder?" The Accounting Review, October 1962 2. "The Rise of 'Economic Consequences'," Stanford Lectures in Accounting 1978 3. "Paton on the Effects of Changing Prices on Accounting, 1916-55," in Zeff, Demski and Dopuch (editors), Essays in Honor of William A. Paton: Pioneer Accounting Theorist, Division of Research, University of Michigan, 1979 4. "Truth in Accounting: The Ordeal of Kenneth MacNeal," The Accounting Review, July 1982 5. "Some Junctures in the Evolution of the Process of Establishing Accounting Principles in the U.S.A.: 1917-1972," The Accounting Review, July 1984 6. "Big Eight Firms and the Accounting Literature: The Falloff in Advocacy Writing," Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Spring 1986 7. "Arthur Andersen & Co. and the Two-Part Opinion in the Auditor's Report: 1946-1962," Contemporary Accounting Research, Spring 1992 8. "The Early Years of the Association of University Teachers of Accounting: 1947-1959," The British Accounting Review, June 1997 (Special Issue) 9. "The Evolution of the Conceptual Framework for Business Enterprises in the United States," The Accounting Historians Journal, December 1999 10. "John B. Canning: A View of His Academic Career," Abacus, February 2000 11. "The Work of the Special Committee on Research Program," The Accounting Historians Journal, December 2001 12. "Du Pont's Early Policy on the Rotation of Audit Firms," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, January/February 2003 13. "'The Apotheosis of Holding Company Accounting': Unilever's Financial Reporting Innovations from the 1920s to the 1940s," Accounting, Business & Financial History, July 2003 (with Kees Camfferman) 14. "How the U.S. Accounting Profession Got Where It Is Today: Part I," Accounting Horizons, September 2003; "How the U.S. Accounting Profession Got Where It Is Today: Part II," Accounting Horizons, December 2003 15. "The Primacy of 'Present Fairly' in the Auditor's Report," Accounting Perspectives, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2007) 16. "The SEC Preempts the Accounting Principles Board in 1965: The Classification of the Deferred Tax Credit Relating to Installment Sales," The Accounting Historians Journal, June 2007 17. "The SEC Rules Historical Cost Accounting: 1934 to the 1970s," Accounting and Business Research, Special Issue: International Accounting Policy Forum Issue (2007). References. Index

Stephen Zeff has been a professor of accounting at Rice University since 1978. He is the former president of the American Accounting Association, and former editor of The Accounting Review. Zeff's previous work includes: Henry Rand Hatfield: Humanist, Scholar, and Accounting Educator (JAI Press, 2002) and of Forging Accounting Principles in Five Countries: A History and an Analysis of Trends (Stipes, 1972). He is also co-author of Financial Reporting and Global Capital Markets: A History of the International Accounting Standards Committee, 1973-2000 (Oxford, 2007).