The contingent career path of the young George O. May

Abstract

Bob Parker explains, in his first paragraph below, that George O. May was a major figure in US accounting. However, this paper was published in a location (Parker, 2012) unlikely to be noticed by many accounting historians, let alone American ones. It was the idea of Steve Zeff (whose paper on the leaders of the US profession is referred to below) to ask if Accounting History would reprint it. I am grateful to the editors for doing so. The kind permission of the Devon History Society is acknowledged. The paper was written for Devonians rather than for accountants (though, of course, May and Parker were both born into or achieved these distinctions). For the avoidance of doubt, although there are newish places called Devon in the United States, we are referring here to the county in the southwest of old England. As usual, Bob’s writing provides a master class in clarity and efficiency. Typically, he does not make claims about theory, but we find by the end that he has developed one: seven pre-conditions for great success as an accountant in the late Victorian age. An obituary of Bob Parker was published in this journal in 2016 (Nobes, 2016). C Nobes, Royal Holloway, University of London, England