Accounting and death: An historical perspective

This article introduces the Special Issue of Accounting History examining the intersection of accounting and death from an historical perspective. Following an initial conceptualisation of death as a social phenomenon and accounting as a practice, we reflect on earlier contributions to the accounting history literature to establish the context and introduce the research articles included in this Special Issue. These articles extend our understanding of accounting and death in a number of ways. They show how accounts of death can be transactional, how accounts for death contribute to necroaccountability, and how death can be a profitable business undertaking (necrocapitalism) in exceptional circumstances. We conclude by further challenging accounting historians to contemplate other ways in which accounting and accountability meet with death in everyday life.