Accounting for the wealth of Denmark: a case study of Smithian growth using the emergence of modern accounting in Danish dairying

Abstract

The idea of “Smithian growth” rests on a “natural” development out of agriculture through capital accumulation, and the division of labour. We confront these concepts with an “historical experiment” and the case of Danish agriculture in the nineteenth century. Specifically, we look at how accounting was used to promote specialization, ultimately in butter production, leading to the massive increases in productivity that Smith predicted. We also observe the emergence of Smithian “philosophers”. This ultimately led to the capital-intensive industrialization of Danish agriculture through butter factories, and general development. We argue that this establishes the historical relevance of Smith’s theories.     

Accounting regulation, inertia and organisational self-perception: Double-entry adoption in a Spanish casa de comercio (1829-1852)

This paper analyses the influence exerted by compulsory mechanisms and cognitive and social factors on the adoption and implementation of double-entry bookkeeping. The study focuses on a small, commercial and family owned company located in Spain in the period 1829-1852. As our main conclusion we suggest that the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping in 1851 was influenced more by the managers' self-perception as traders, and the belief (internal and environmental) that the company must employ an accounting method appropriate to its new commercial status, than by State pressures derived from the enactment of a new accounting regulation in 1829.     

Using Pacioli’s pedagogy and medieval text in today’s introductory accounting course

Students today see little relevance in learning double-entry bookkeeping and find it difficult to learn how to prepare journal entries correctly. In particular, they struggle with the first stage of the double-entry process: identifying which accounts are to be debited and which are to be credited for each transaction. This paper reports on an attempt to overcome this situation by using the first printed instructional text on the subject (Pacioli, 1494) as the principal textbook on a 20-hour component of the introductory financial accounting course in an undergraduate accounting degree program. Instruction followed the pedagogy presented by Pacioli and only minimal additional costs to faculty were incurred.     

借贷记账法悖论

借贷记账法已经有510多年的历史,借贷记账法由于相对清晰的对应关系和相对严谨的科学理论性,成为当今世界会计的主流.但是,借贷记账法作为人们认识和改造世界的手段和工具仍然存在着一定的不足.需要不断的更新和完善,才能适应社会发展的需要.正是基于这样的目的,结合多年来教学实践和理论研究,作者对借贷记账法理论的基础--"实"、"虚"两类账户并重体系的弊端进行了探讨,并提出了新的借贷记账法的基本设想.     

三式簿记发展的趋势分析

簿记是人类经济社会发展的产物,它经历了从无到有、从单式到复式的发展变化过程。正像复式簿记取代单式簿记一样,三式簿记终将取代复式簿记。本人认为,现代簿记对象可以抽象为资金运动,任何资金运动都具有:资金来龙、资金去脉、资金动因三维性,资金运动的三维性是建立三式簿记的客观基础。     

CS公司代理进口业务税收筹划实案

本文立足于CS公司具体的代理进口业务,从会计处理角度对其进行有针对性地阐述及分析,既为CS公司的代理进口业务直接提供了税收筹划个案,同时也为更多的小企业提供了可借鉴之处。     

On Double-Entry Bookkeeping: The Mathematical Treatment

Abstract

Double-entry bookkeeping (DEB) implicitly uses a specific mathematical construction, the group of differences using pairs of unsigned numbers (‘T-accounts’). That construction was only formulated abstractly in mathematics in the nineteenth century, even though DEB had been used in the business world for over five centuries. Yet the connection between DEB and the group of differences (here called the ‘Pacioli group’) is still largely unknown both in mathematics and accounting. The precise mathematical treatment of DEB allows clarity on certain conceptual questions and it immediately yields the generalization of the double-entry method to multi-dimensional vectors typically representing the different types of property involved in an enterprise or household.     

Journal entry anomaly detection model

Although numerous scientific papers have been written on deep learning, very few have been written on the exploitation of such technology in the field of accounting or bookkeeping. Our scientific study is oriented exactly toward this specific field. As accountants, we know the problems faced in modern accounting. Although accountants may have a plethora of information regarding technology support, looking for errors or fraud is a demanding and time-consuming task that depends on manual skills and professional knowledge. Our efforts are oriented toward resolving the problem of error-detection automation that is currently possible through new technologies, and we are trying to develop a web application that will alleviate the problems of journal entry anomaly detection. Our developed application accepts data from one specific enterprise resource planning system while also representing a general software framework for other enterprise resource planning developers. Our web application is a prototype that uses two of the most popular deep-learning architectures; namely, a variational autoencoder and long short-term memory. The application was tested on two different journals: data set D, learned on accounting journals from 2007 to 2018 and then tested during the year 2019, and data set H, learned on journals from 2014 to 2016 and then tested during the year 2017. Both accounting journals were generated by micro entrepreneurs.     

Facilitating and restricting a challenger: Patents and standards in the development of the Bull-Knutsen punched card system, 1919–1938

This paper discusses the various ways that patents and standards framed a challenger's opportunities. It recounts the history of the Bull punched card system, both in Norway in the 1920s and France in the 1930s, as it developed and became a challenger to IBM's monopoly. Bull faced the first mover's patents and standards differently. Standards paved the way for the challenger's actions, while patents hampered certain facilities for their duration.     

‘Different from What Has Hitherto Appeared on this Subject’: John Clark,Writing Master and Accomptant, 1738

This paper argues the importance, for the study of accounting history, of collecting evidence of accounting's past and of questioning its conventional wisdoms. It is known that Cronhelm (1818) explained in algebraic terms the mathematical relationship between assets, liabilities and capital reported in a balance sheet. It is also known that the balance sheet equation Assets (A) – Liabilities (L) = Capital (C) became a foundation for teaching bookkeeping as the twentieth century progressed. Current knowledge suggests that, during the first half of the twentieth century, this mathematical approach to teaching accounting gained a foothold in the United States based on the writings of Sprague and Hatfield, and also in Continental Europe. This paper reveals that, in the 1730s in England, John Clark cogently demonstrated an algebraically rooted understanding of the inter‐relationship between double entry bookkeeping and the structure of the balance sheet as exemplified by the above equation. The paper proves that journal‐oriented learning was not the exclusive training method employed by bookkeeping instructors during the early eighteenth century and raises the possibility that other teachers of bookkeeping were providing a more thoughtful education for aspiring clerks, bookkeepers, managers and businessmen than has hitherto been thought the case. This study also shows that accounting technologies do not continuously evolve towards their current state of elaboration, and that it is important for researchers to remain aware of plurality in patterns of accounting change and to be willing to embrace the full range of methodological approaches available for studying accounting phenomena.