Portraits of early Portuguese accountants: Júlio Dinis and Eça de Queirós

Abstract

This short article provides a summary of Leão, Gomes and Carnegie (2019) on early accounting stereortpes in Portugal, which is published in 'Accounting, Auditing et Accountability Journal' (Vol. 32, No.2). The objective of the study was to examine the stereotypes of the early accounting practitioners, based on Portuguese realist literature from the second half of the 19th century. The study explored the accountants' portrait in popular culture by focusing on the Portuguese context during this period. In all, eight dimensions of the accounting stereotype were identified: a modest man; honest; warm; sentimental; on-the-job trained practitioner; uncreative, conservative and unenergetic; financial manager; and servant of the capitalist.