Abstract
Purpose – The paper sets out to identify the key role that Jan-Erik Grojer’s work on human resource
costing and accounting played in linking initial developments in accounting for people with the more
recent advances associated with the emergence of the intellectual capital concept.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is in the form of an essay that briefly considers the
history of approaches to the challenge of accounting for people.
Findings – The recent developments associated with intellectual capital highlight the importance
and value of adopting a rather wider conception of accounting for people.
Originality/value – The paper provides a provocative introduction to the topic of accounting for
people and as such may be of value to both newcomers to the field and those who are simply intrigued
by the idea itself.
Keywords Human resource accounting, Human capital, Accounting research
Paper type General review
Jan-Erik Grojer played a pivotal role in continuing a focus on the necessity of
identifying how it might be possible to account for people. Together, with his colleague
and fellow contributor to this collection, Ulf Johanson, Jan-Erik advocated the
development of human resource costing and accounting, a contribution that provides
the critical link between human resource accounting, the principal approach to
accounting for people in the 1970s, and intellectual capital, the development that has
galvanised renewed interest in this topic as well as identifying the ultimate reason why
people should be taken into account. This contribution is clearly evident in their
seminal 1998 paper entitled: “Current development in human resource costing and
accounting: reality present, researchers absent”, published in the Accounting, Auditing
& Accountability Journal. On a personal level I am greatly indebted to Jan-Erik for
persuading me that I should make something of a U-turn in my own journey within
accounting research. Having written a couple of papers on human worth accounting,
and accepted an invitation to join the founding editorial board of the Journal of Human
Resource Costing and Accounting, I had begun to explore the relationship between
management accounting and marketing management via the notion of strategic
management accounting. An invitation from Jan-Erik to participate in a memorable
symposium in Brussels in autumn 1998 resulted in me having two exciting avenues to
traverse in the next decade, and indeed for the foreseeable future, something for which
I am deeply appreciative.
The following essay is conceived of as a very personal, brief introduction to the
topic of accounting for people, a project which Jan-Erik did so much to promote
throughout his own career. It draws on elements of a previous contribution written
with Guy Ahonen and Gunnar Rimmell and published in 2007.
比google翻译的要流畅一些啊