Accounting History

Editorial

Barter Accounting in the Us During the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

Barter accounting as practiced in the US during the 18th and 19th centuries is examined. Different types of barter are described and illustrated. Background on the economic environment during these periods that was conducive to barter arrangements is furnished. Examples are provided of actual barter transactions taken from account books in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Furthermore, contemporary barter accounting and taxation practices are outlined and found to exhibit significant complexity...

Victorian Parsimony and the Early Champions of Modern Public Sector Audit

In most Westminster governments, the essential characteristics of central government audit can be traced to the British Exchequer and Audit Act 1866. The Act was the pinnacle of government finance and accountability reforms implemented in the middle decades of the 19th century which were motivated by the need both to control and reduce government spending. The well-recognized Victorian affection for retrenchment gained its influence over these reforms through the contributions of key committe...

Abstracts of 'Contabilitá E Cultura Aziendale' Vol.I-Vol.Ii, 2003

Confronting Moral Issues From Accounting's Dark Side

One traditional accounting historian's transition into more critical directions as a result of archival research projects into certain of the seamier episodes in accounting's history is tracked. The current research focus, the study of US and British West Indian slavery accounting, has raised moral issues that have widened the historian's perspectives and caused him to think more critically about the archival materials that document the slave plantation environment in both venues.

An Examination of Early Us Twentieth Century First-Year Accounting Textbooks

A study analyzes the first editions of the first-year accounting textbooks published in the US during the first 3rd of the 20th century. This was a time of rapidly expanding accounting education and these books were developed to meet this need. The analysis includes a topical overview of the 33 books identified as first-year accounting textbooks as well as a detailed examination of the more successful books. The books were not all the same, differing on such items as their intended audiences,...