The Role of Charisma in Accounting Change

Abstract

According to Max Weber charisma will be applied to a certain quality of individual of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities (Weber, 1978). In this paper we focus on the charisma of Prof. Martti Saario, and what role his charisma played in the accounting change in Finland in the middle of twentieth century. Our aim is to demonstrate that his exceptional personality with charisma succeeded in communicating a meaningful and appealing message to his students and other followers. The intended contribution of this article is to enlarge our understanding of accounting change in a national context, and discover how a personal charisma plays a role in a historical accounting change.