Conjectures on Colonial Accounting History in Australia

This article analyses three current conjectures regarding Australian accounting history between 1788 and 1817. All relate to double entry bookkeeping. First, that it was practised in Australia before 1817: second, that it was introduced to Australia by Lieutenant John Palmer. RN. in 1788: and third, that its teaching in Australia can be traced to the period 1804–6. Additional conjectures are proposed about the introduction of double entry bookkeeping to Australia and the identity of Australia's first double entry accountant. It is argued that the pioneering of double entry bookkeeping in the colony of New South Wales should not be located before 1810.     

Early Arithmetics and Accounting Histories: A Comment

A standard historical approach to the study of a particular topic is to reach back into the past and to discover and to document early contributions, and if possible to find the first instance. To have been the first or to establish who was the first is a claim to fame. In two recent articles published in this journal such claims were made. Unfortunately for those that follow, these claims by Lee (1989) and Previts, Parker and Coffman (1990) seem incorrect.     

Accounting practices of the St. Joseph Lead Company: 1864-1900

This paper presents the results of an inquiry into the accounting practices of the St. Joseph Lead Company during the nineteenth century. For several decades following its incorporation in 1864 the St. Joseph Lead Company maintained a very crude double-entry bookkeeping system that lacked detailed cost accounting records. In fact, there is little evidence of any type of industrial accounting prior to 1890 when a direct cost responsibility accounting system was established. Thus, the industrial accounting procedures of the St. Joseph Lead Company appear to have lagged far behind the practices of the contemporary British and American mining firms which have been the objects of recent studies. The investigation thereby reveals considerable diversity in the industrial accounting practices of the American mining industry during the second half of the nineteenth century.     

解析新会计准则对会计信息价值相关性的影响

本文研究了新会计准则对会计信息价值相关性的影响。我们发现,新准则实施后,会计信息总体的价值相关性显著提高,并且受新准则影响部分的价值相关性改善程度显著高于不受影响的部分。在此基础上,我们还分析了公允价值计量对受影响部分信息质量改善的贡献。研究还发现,对于非金融行业,非公允净资产比公允净资产更具有价值相关性;而对于金融行业,二者没有显著差别。本文的研究表明,新会计准则确实将原有准则的不合理部分做了修正,其实施有助于会计质量的整体提高。但是这种修正并不是简单地盲目采用公允价值,而是综合考虑各种计价方式的结果。本文的研究结果对中国乃至国际会计准则的改革提供了有意义的信息。     

Emerging Evidence of Early Indian Accounting

The paper examines the extant late-eighteenth-century accounting record books of Kantababu, a Bengali property owner and silk trader. These annual records, in part destroyed by white ants and other insects, do not make up a complete set for more than any two Bengali solar years. Yet from the available evidence it is possible to make a case that some elements of the accounting systems used by Kantababu and his clerks have similarities to medieval and later European methods and to eleventh-century methods used by Cairo merchants as evidenced by documents stored in the Genizah of the Old Cairo synagogue.     

The First Australian Book on Accounting: James Dimelow's

Accounting historians have shown considerable interest in the first printed books published on accounting (from 1494 onwards) in various countries. This paper provides a detailed study of the first Australian book, published in sets between 1871 and 1873. It examines the factors determining the date and place of such first authorship. James Dimelow's life and career in Britain and Australia are discussed and his books (which were published in Britain as well as Australia) are systematically described. These books are placed within the contexts of the economic and cultural environment of colonial Australia and the nineteenth-century British and Australian accounting literature. The differences between Dimelow's and John Scouller's books are explored and explained and possible influences of Dimelow on the later development of Australian accounting are proposed.     

An analysis of the first ten volumes of research in Accounting, Business and Financial History

Although numerous studies have focused upon the publishing patterns of leading academic accounting journals, the area of accounting history has largely been neglected. This paper uses standard content and citation techniques to analyse the 155 articles published in the first ten volumes of Accounting, Business and Financial History across the period 1990 to 2000. It highlights the leading individual and institutional contributors to ABFH, the major foci of their studies and the journals, articles and scholars exerting the greatest influence upon ABFH authors.     

新会计准则实施前后会计数据价值相关性实证研究

2006年2月财政部发布的新会计准则于2007年在上市公司率先实施。近四年的实施,其效果怎么呢？会计信息的质量是否得到了提高？对此本文以主板上市公司2004-2009年的数据为样本进行实证研究,其结果表明,新准则实施后会计数据的价值相关性显著提高,从而证实了新准则的运用有助于提高会计信息质量。     

Govern(mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761–1777)

New perspectives in accounting history have uncovered previously unattended relations between accounting and government. Earlier Foucauldian analyses of governments have not explained sufficiently the relations of accounting practices to governmental discourses in order to manage populations.
This work uses the governmentality frame to analyse the role of accounting in two organizations located in the south of Spain in the second half of the eighteenth century: the New Settlements of Sierra Morena and Andalucia (NSs) and the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville (RTFS). The period studied is remarkable because it was the apogee of the Enlightenment in Spain. From the standpoint of government, this period facilitated a new way to manage populations. The present work has drawn on Foucault's concept of governmentality in order to discover how accounting worked in two government-supported organizations independently of the discourses that pervaded each one. Drawing on the reticulation of the space, the use of rules and accounting from the governmental perspective, we analyse those institutions.
The article concludes that the reticulation of space is an essential apparatus to exert action at a distance; the rules are a type of government technology; and, overall, accounting is a practice for the mastery of the population independently from the discourse of the institution.     

Concepts of cost and profit in Chinese agricultural treatises: with special reference to Shengshi Nongshu and Pu Nongshu in the seventeenth century

This article analyses the use of the concepts of cost and profit in Chinese agricultural treatises. Special attention is given to the agricultural works Shengshi Nongshu and Pu Nongshu in the seventeenth century. The analysis shows how Chinese people applied the concepts of cost and profit to agricultural production. This paper also analyses the reasons for the lack of further progress of Chinese accounting in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It concludes that Chinese accounting reached its peak in the Ming and Qing dynasties under a feudal framework and that accounting development has been strongly associated and constrained by its social environment, including political and cultural constraints.     

Accounting and quality control in the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville, 1744-90: an historical perspective

Studies in the history of accounting have, to date, centred on the costs and efficiency of productive systems. However, the influence of quality assurance in management control systems is an aspect that has not been studied in detail from an historical perspective. For that, this study analyses the use made of accounting techniques as a contributory element to quality control in the case of the Royal Tobacco Factory of Seville, belonging to the Spanish Tobacco Monopoly, during the second half of the eighteenth century.     

The Impact of the Definition of Inflation on the Effectiveness of Inflation Accounting Adjustments

In tests of inflation accounting methods, inflation is generally seen as a simple phenomenon: the prices of all elements change at the same rate. The example presented here deals with a different case: inflation is characterized by changes in the structure of prices. In particular, prices of articles bought and articles sold do not vary at the same rates.
In this context, it is observed that three types of adjustments are not effective, i.e. they do not have the potential to report real or nominal rates of return. This result should be considered as a criticism of the coherence of inflation accounting methods.     

仰望会计星空 静思会计发展

会计理论需要脚踏实地,更要仰望星空。仰望会计星空,时刻不忘会计本性,可以对会计理论与实践发挥动态矫正作用。会计如何切实履行人类经济文明进步导航仪与守护神的历史使命,东西方已有的会计实践已积累的丰富的经验与教训。认真面对并冷静分析现代会计发展至今的历史,审视中国传统会计所体现的独特风格,从而沉着应对信息化崭新社会、技术环境对会计发展形成的现实挑战。在中华民族伟大复兴实践中实现中国"会计强国"之梦,必须虔诚仰望会计星空,方能赢得中国会计发展的大政方略共识。     

论财务会计与管理会计的整合

文章主要就财务会计与管理会计整合的必然性及可能性（基础与条件）两方面进行了阐述。认为两者本质的同一性和目标的一致性是走向整合的必然。随着信息技术的不断发展,财务会计与管理会计的界限越来越模糊,整合的条件越来越成熟,整合的趋势日益明显。     

Making Profession and State, 1907 to 1914: The ACPA's First Charter Attempt

The Australasian Corporation of Public Accountants (ACPA) was founded in 1907, the first Australian national association of public accountants and their clerks. From 1907 to 1914 it endeavoured, against the opposition of both Australian and British associations, to obtain a royal charter. The ACPA's charter attempt brought into focus struggles within the emergent accountancy'profession'both in Australia and Britain. It also became implicated in the process of state formation during a formative period in Australia's political history. Using hitherto unexplored archival material, this study shows that the ACPA's charter attempt: (a) was a serious attempt to drive a wedge between the'public'and'commercial'accountant; and (b) raised issues about the legislative and executive domains of Australian state and Federal governments both inter se and in relation to Britain. The study suggests that the failure of the attempt can be ascribed to the interaction of (a) and (b). It also suggests that one of the outcomes of the attempt, namely, the (re-)assertion of authority of Australian state governments over accountancy matters, helped to diminish the hegemony of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, eventually formed in 1928, over public accountancy in Australia.     

Chinese bookkeeping systems: a study of accounting adaptation and change

The evolution of bookkeeping methods is one of the main features in the advance of Chinese accounting over several thousand years. This paper outlines the invention and application of Chinese-style bookkeeping methods from a historical perspective. With an emphasis on the rise and fall of the 'increase-decrease' bookkeeping method in the mid-1960s to 1980s, the paper not only illustrates the main characteristics of this bookkeeping system, but also analyses its relative strengths and deficiencies in contrast to the Italian-style debit-credit bookkeeping system. It is contended that the increase-decrease system is a continuing innovation of the Chinese-style bookkeeping and an attempt to adapt the western bookkeeping system in terms of the Chinese social and cultural traditions. Studies of this bookkeeping system may generate certain insightful input for the potential improvement of modern bookkeeping in other countries in light of the changing technological and economic conditions.     

The internationalization of British professional accounting: the role of the examination exporting bodies

This paper extends the seminal study of the role of the UK accounting profession undertaken by Johnson and Caygill (1971). It is argued that the influence of the British accounting profession upon overseas countries has changed significantly from the export of UK accountants to the export of examinations. This has greatly facilitated the attainment of a UK qualification by overseas nationals and thus enhanced the international influence of UK accounting principles and practices. The possible implications of this trend for importing countries are also explored. Finally, the paper discusses the impact of this new development upon the professional body which is the leading provider of overseas examinations.     

Review and extension of Bhattacharyya's Modern Accounting Concepts in Kautilya's Arthasastra

This is a discussion of the theoretical aspects of accounting as they emerged in India during the Maurya period (c.321 BC to c.184 BC) in Kautilya's Arthasastra (c.300 BC) - the very first known treatise to deal with accounting aspects in the history of our discipline. Pertinent evidence can be found in an article by Choudhury (1982) and in Bhattacharyya's (1988) book, Modern Accounting Concepts in Kautilya's Arthasastra. This book, hardly known in Western accounting circles, claims that Kautilya's ancient treatise anticipated a series of 'modern' accounting concepts. These claims are here examined on the basis of the two standard translations of the Arthasastra, the original one by Shamasastry ([1915] 1967) and an extended one by Kangle (1963). Apart from some background material, the focus of this paper is on three aspects: (1) Kautilya's various types of income (including aspects of accounting for price changes, the distinction between real and fictitious holding gains, etc.) and their possible relation to modern concepts; (2) his classification of expenditures or costs (including possibly fixed vs variable costs); and (3) his notions of capital. These aspects indicate a surprisingly long-standing need for and possible use of relatively sophisticated accounting concepts. Thus Choudhury and, particularly, Battacharyya must be praised for drawing the attention of Western accountants to different aspects of an important ancient treatise. Yet Bhattacharyya (1988) deserves to be critically investigated and interpreted, not only from a Western point of view but also from the perspective of modern price-level accounting.     

Oral history, accounting history and an interview with Sir John Grenside

This article arises out of a programme of oral history funded by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). It discusses the issues involved in setting up and carrying through the programme and the advantages and disadvantages of the technique particularly with regard to accounting history. It uses as an example an interview with one of the leaders of the accountancy profession in the period since the Second World War - Sir John Grenside. Grenside discusses his training and the changes he saw and helped bring about as senior partner in his firm, Peat Marwick Mitchell. Grenside was also one of the leading lights in the ICAEW in the 1970s and early 1980s and was the architect of the Joint Disciplinary Scheme on which he gives his views as well as on the recent troubles of the profession.