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 A Short Report after the 12th World Congress of Accounting Historians
Prof. Dr. Oktay Guvemli
Congress Convener
1. The last report about the preparations of the Congress was written in March 2008. The reason I had prepared the semi-annual reports on the Congress preparations was to address the questions about the Congress preparations asked at the Academy meetings. I would like to give answers to the possible questions that could be asked at the meetings that I could not attend. However, the purpose of this report is to display the data of the Congress and make the evaluation of the Congress possible.
2. The Congress started with a welcome cocktail with a Mehter (Ottoman Military Band) Show at 19.30 on July 20, 2008 and concluded with the Bosphorus Dinner Tour on three boats at 22.30 on July 24, 2008. The other social activities included in the Program were the first Gala Dinner by the Bosphorus on July 21, 2008 and the sightseeing excursion to the Grand Bazaar on July 24, 2008. These social activities were a useful addition for the participants attending the sessions of the Congress in such a big city.
3. The Congress was held in Harbiye Military Museum and Cultural Center - an historical Ottoman building whose special futures have been protected by law.
4. Approximately 280 papers and abstracts that would be turned into papers were sent to the Referee Board. This Board worked on these papers and abstracts for 7-8 months by corresponding with the authors constantly. In consequence, 239 papers, of which 88 were from Turkey, were accepted and the Congress was held with these papers. Such a way was followed in the evaluation process in order to help to countries that were relatively new in the area of accounting history and to help as many individuals as we could get in touch with. There was an increase in the number of the papers thanks to this approach.
5. The number of the countries whose papers were accepted for the presentation at the Congress was 48 including Turkey. 88 of the accepted papers were from Turkey, whereas 20 were from Romania. The United States and the United Kingdom, which had 12 papers each, followed Romania. 8 papers were from Italy and 7 papers from Australia, Japan and French each. 6 papers were sent from Spain, and 5 papers were from Nigeria. The numbers of papers sent from the Czech Republic, Russia and Serbia were 4. There were 3 papers from Canada, Iran, Malaysia, Poland, Macedonia and Slovenia each. One or two papers were sent from 28 different countries each such as Albania, Argetina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Estonia. The geographical situation of Turkey also contributed to the increase in the number of the papers. Most of the more than twenty neighbors of Turkey participated in the Congress with papers. As mentioned above, the other factor that helped to increase the number of the papers was the evaluation process of the papers.
6. There were also some delegations from different countries, who did not present papers at the Congress. The countries which participated without papers were Belgium, Cameroon, Denmark, Sweden, El Salvador, Gambia, Germany, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Ukraine. With these countries, the number of the countries that completed the registration process was 58 including Turkey. However, the delegates of Gambia, Cameroon and Iran delegates did not attend the Congress. Consequently, there were representatives from 55 different countries at the Congress.
7. The number of the attendees was 573, and 255 of these were from foreign countries, while the other 318 were from Turkey. Of the participants from Turkey 183 were academicians, 90 were members of professional chambers, 28 were the representatives of public institutions and 17 of them were invited guests. The number of the people, who completed the registration process from Romania, was 28, 25 from the United States, 22 from the United Kingdom, 18 from Spain, 14 from Italy, 13 from France, 12 from Nigeria, 10 from Russia and 10 from Japan. However, the number of participants from Romania, who attended decreased since a university did not give permission to its professors to attend to the Congress and there were some non-attendees from other countries for different reasons. As a consequence of a tragic earthquake in China, most of the participants from China canceled their participation as groups. The fee was 300 Euros for participants, and 150 Euros for accompanying persons. In order to encourage participation from the Balkan and Middle East countries, the participation fee was reduced from 300 Euros to 150 Euros for these countries. This was another important factor that contributed to the increase in the number of the participants.
8. Thanks to financial support granted by the Turkish government, approximately 50 young accounting academicians from different Turkish Universities were invited to the Congress. The purpose of this invitation was to contribute to the increase of the numbers of people who will study accounting history in the future.
9. Some of the items put in to the 600 delegates bags were: Congress Abstracts and Program Book, a notebook and pen produced specially for the Congress, introductory brochures of Istanbul and Turkey, a Special Catalogue about the Ottoman Empire’s accounting practices, the special stamp published specially by the Turkish Post Administration for the Congress, small packets of hazelnut, pistachio, Turkish Delight …
10. A daily was published for three days during the Congress. This daily entitled “Turquoise” included news related to the Congress and was in English except the last page which was in Turkish.
11. The Congress was held in eight different halls. The name of the biggest hall was Ernest Stevelinck. The names of the other halls were Paul Garner, Basil Yamey, Yaroslav Sokolov, Raymond de Roover and Gray Previts (Special Meeting Room). O. Fikret Arkun and Ýsmail Otar as the names of two researchers, who were interested in Turkish accounting history in the past, were the names of the rest two halls.
12. Plaques were presented to the chairs of the sessions, authors of the plenary session papers and the authors of the 650th, 675th, 700th, 725th, 750th, 775th, 800th, 825th and 850th papers in the history of the World Congress of Accounting Historians. Nevertheless, some plaques were also presented to the representatives of the professional chambers in Anatolia that supported the Congress.
13. The Closing Ceremony of the Congress was organized in cooperation with Dr. David Oldroyd, who will undertake the organization of the 13th Congress. At first, Dr. Oldroyd introduced the next Congress with a PowerPoint show. Afterwards, I made a short closing speech and the speeches of the ceremony were concluded. Following on from that a Turkish boy, who was 10 years old, passed the Congress to a British boy of similar age in a short ceremony. After the Closing Ceremony, souvenirs from Istanbul and Turkey were handed out to the participants.
14. Approximately one year before the Congress, a central office was established. Four people, one of whom is British, worked at this office constantly. When the date of the Congress approached, an executive committee that had 20 members was formed. Two professionals responsible for photographs and the Congress daily also were included by this Committee, whose members were mostly academicians. This Committee worked in cooperation with the company that was hired for the organization of the Congress. Most of the academicians, who were in the Executive Committee, were from the universities outside of Istanbul. There were eight areas that the different members of the Committee were responsible for. These areas were: 1. Media and Congress Daily Group, 2. The Group responsible for the main hall, 3. The Group responsible for the session halls, 4. The Group responsible for reception and Celebration Program of the anniversary of the Academy, 5. The Group responsible for information affairs, 6. The Group organized the gala dinners, 7. The Group responsible for inter city transportation, 8. The Group responsible for exhibitions and stands. The whole time, a medical doctor was ready for any emergencies during the Congress. A special session and a cake for 450 people were in the program of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Academy of Accounting Historians. The presentations were simultaneously translated from English to Turkish and Turkish to English not only at the plenary sessions, but also at the parallel sessions that were held at main hall. All presentations at the other halls were in English. Special videos, included the interviews on accounting history with retired academicians and chairs of the two big professional chambers, were displayed with subtitles in English at the information desk during the Congress.
15. Ten introductory historical exhibitions and approximately 10 introduction stands were opened at the Congress. Some of the historical exhibitions were: 1. The exhibition that was opened on account of the 170th anniversary of the Ministry of Finance and some examples from the records, which were 100 years old and collected from the branches in different cities of the Ministry were exhibited, 2. The exhibition was opened on account of the 125th anniversary of the establishment of the Marmara University, 3. The exhibition of the special laminates of old books of accounts that were especially prepared for the Congress by the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archive, 4. The exhibition of old and special calculators of the Is Bank, 5. The exhibition of some special collections of coins and banknotes belonging to Ottoman and Turkish Republican eras…
16. At the beginning, the organizers of the Congress were: The Association of Accounting and Finance Academicians (AAFA) and Marmara University. Then, Afyon Kocatepe University, which provided the financial support of the government to the Congress and whose academicians had certain studies on accounting history, joined as the third organizer of the Congress.
17. Some of the sponsor institutions of the Congress were Ministry Of Finance of the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, Istanbul Commerce Chamber, Turkish Airlines, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ziraat Bank, Turkey Is Bank, Akbank, Union of Chambers of Certified Public Accountants of Turkey (TÜRMOB), Istanbul Professional Chambers. Also, the Turkish General Staff that dedicated the Congress Venue to the Congress without charge was one of the sponsors of the Congress. Some of the sponsors provided financial support, while the others undertook some services such as gala dinners. The budget of the Congress was approximately 500,000 US dollars and 125,000 of this amount was the fees that were collected from participants.
18. In order to continue the studies on accounting history after the Congress in Turkey, The Association of Accounting and Finance Historians was established in 2007 and it is planned to publish a Journal of Accounting and Finance History of Turkey. The journal will be published semi annually and distributed nationally. The goal in the long term is the distribution of the journal internationally.
Detailed Congress Program is available under the title of Congress Technical Program button. Please check the information belongs to you included by the Program(If there is a problem, please infrom us until 15th June).
Important Notes
2007 Notes
1. The 12th World Congress of the Accounting Historians will be held on 20-24 July 2008 in Istanbul. The next, in other words the 13th World Congress after this one will be held in 2012 in England. The World Congress that had been held bi yearly after 2000, is decided to be held quadrennial after 2008. As such, the persons, who do not participate or submit a paper, have to wait four more years in order to participate or submit a paper to a World Congress.
2. A Congress daily that includes the activities of that day will be published during three days.
3. A set of abstracts will be published before the Congress and, after the Congress, Congress proceedings (with an ISBN) will be published. Please infrom us if you do not wish your paper to be published in "Congress Proceedings". The publication of the paper in the Congress Proceedings in not an obstacle to be published in anywhere else as long as it is referenced.
4. A 50% discount will be applied for the direct flights with Turkish Airlines for the participants of the 12th WCAH from the different farts of the world. (A more detailed information on this issue will be available under the title of “Accommodation&Transportation” at the web site.
5. The participation fee for the groups more than 30 participants has been reduced from €300 to €250. (The participation fee for accompanying persons is €200.)
6. 614 papers have been submitted to the World Congresses of Accounting Historians up to present. Plaques will be presented for the authors of the 625th, 650th, 675th, 700th, 725th, 750th, 775th, 800th, 825th and 850th papers that will be presented at the 12th WCAH.
7. Association of Accounting and Finance Historians(AAFH) was established in Turkey.
2008 Notes
January 2008
1. The participants should fill the registration forms at the web site completely and in the shortest time in order to continue our communication with them.
2. We invite the participants of the Congress to a Gala Dinner in a magical Bosporus night at Kandilli in the evening of 21st July.
3. We would like to remind you that July is the best month of the year for Istanbul and Turkey from a touristic point of view.
February 2008
1. You may find the list of hotels and accommodation form under the “Accommodation & Transportation” title of the website.
2. You may find the map of the Congress Zone and plans of both two floors of the Congress Venue under the “Congress Venue” title of the website.
3. Please do not forget the fill the registration forms at the web site since we will be in touch with only the ones, who have filled the registration forms.
4. You may find the detail about the account, which the participation fees should be transferred to, under the “registration form” page. We would very much appreciate, if you can inform us about the payment after transfer via e-mail (oktay_guvemli@yahoo.co.uk).
5. The participants, who would like to benefit from the discount that Turkish Airlines will allow, should get into touch with us after filling the registration form and transferring the participation fee in order to learn how the discount will be applied.
6. During the presentations, Microsoft PowerPoint will be used.
7. How the 50% discount on Turkish Airlines special fares on Turkish Airlines flights will be applied has been clarified. Detailed information about the application of the discount is available in the Accommodation & Transportation part of the web site.
March 2008
1. The acceptance letters will be sent via e-mail. However, in order to send the letters, the registration forms should be filled and the participation fee should be transferred at first.
2. We will inform the participants, who fill the registration forms, about payment of the participation fee.
3. Each paper in the parallel sessions will have 30 minutes. The 20 minutes of this period will be used for presentation, when the rest will be used for discussion.
April 2008
1. We are pleased to announce that the technical program is now available.
2. The technical program includes certain activities that are planned in accordance with the favors of Istanbul thanks to July.
3. We would like to remind you that the participation fee for accompanying persons is 150 Euros.
May 2008
1. The participants of the Congress may find the newly added low-priced hotels under the title of “Accommodation”.
2. The detailed Congress Program Technical Program is now available.
July 1, 2008
1. The ones, who would like make some amendments in their papers, can send their amended paper until 15th July.
2. The number of the papers will be presented at the Congress is 238. These papers will be presented by the participants from 47 different countries. However, the number of the countries that participants come from is 55.
3. Please do not forget to transfer the participation fees since the deadline is 15th July.
4. See you in Istanbul...
Adress: Yýldýz Posta Cad. No:17/4, Esentepe, 34394, Ýstanbul
Telephone : +90 212 347 63 00
Fax : +90 212 347 63 63
E-mail: dekon@dekon.com.tr
Web: www.dekon.com.tr |
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