TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS AND THE WORK OF THE ACCOUNTING HISTORIAN: SOME KEY ISSUES

This paper considers how innovations in information technology have changed the process by which accounting historians collect primary and secondary sources of information. It examines how web-based systems have made it possible for historians to collect data from what is effectively a twenty-four-hour "on-line library". The paper explores some of the limitations of technological innovations and considers the steps necessary to ensure future access to information stored in digital electronic form. It also considers the challenges involved in authenticating primary source documents such as e-mail and facsimiles and the impact of encryption on the availability of data in the future. Advances in information technology suggest that future generations of accounting historians will require new skills.