Accounting

A Lectureship in Accounting and Business Method was created in 1918 as part of the newly formed Department of Commerce. It was endowed by subscriptions from members of the Edinburgh and Leith Chambers of Commerce, from the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, the Leith Shipowners, the Accountants' Society, and the Bankers Institute. These bodies, and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce in particular, had been instrumental in persuading the university to introduce a Degree in Commerce to meet the challenges facing the country at the conclusion of the First World War. In 1919, the Lectureship was raised to a Chair, with Thomas Patrick Laird as the first appointee.

Accounting was taught within the Faculty of Arts until 1964 when it transferred to the newly created Faculty of Social Sciences. Since 2002 it has been taught at Edinburgh University's Business School part of the College of Humanities and Social Science.

Professors of Accounting and Business Method (1919-1971)

• 1919-1927: Thomas Patrick Laird (d. 1927)
• 1927-1943: William Allan (1872-1952)
• 1945-1957: Adam George Murray (d. 1966)
• 1957-1967: David Steel Anderson (d. 1986)
• 1967-1971: Edward Stamp (1928-1986)

From 1972 onwards, the Chair was renamed 'Accountancy and Finance', a separate Chair of Business Studies having been created in 1968.

Professors of Accountancy and Finance

• 1972-1975: Geoffrey Whittington (1938- )
• 1976-1991: Thomas Alexander Lee (1941- )

In 1991, the Chair was renamed 'Accountancy', an new Chair of Accounting having been created in 1987 (see below).

Professors of Accountancy

• 1991- : Irvine Lapsley

Professors of Accounting

A new chair of Accounting was created in 1987:

• 1987- : David J. Hatherly
• [20--? - : Stephen P. Walker

Sources

• Alexander Falconer Giles, 'The Faculty of Arts', in History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933, ed. A. Logan Turner (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1933), pp. 164-238.