‘And one man in his time plays many parts’ – Samuel Pepys business administrator, accomptant and auditor

Abstract

The (his)story of Samuel Pepys is interlinked with that of administration, accounting, auditing and their concepts. In terms of nascent ideas of accounting and business administration of the time, Pepys and his contribution are under-researched. Many scholars have considered the life of Samuel Pepys, studying his famous diary and marvelling at the wonderful insight this gives us to the time in which he lived, few have viewed his naval career in terms of its business administration and accounting contribution. This paper studies Pepys's diary, his correspondence and secondary literature to provide an insight into his business world. It explores his role, as he perceived it. Pepys had modern attitudes to business, professionalism and the role of accounting, this forward-thinking attitude helps explain his extraordinary achievements. Pepys was not only a skilled naval administrator but also a natural 'accomptant' in the more modern and all-encompassing sense of the word accountant.

It's a gift – Samuel Pepys and Sir William Warren, an account of gifts, bribes and kickbacks

“…He introduced into the Navy ideas of checking and verifying accounts, of internal controls and audit. He promoted ideas we would now recognise as agency theory, schemes of aligning interests so that the Navy was better served by those acting in their own self-interests [32] (McBride, 2022 [33]):my work is likeliest to be best done by him whose profit is increased by the well doing of it without increase of charge to me that employs him (Pepys, 1662-1679 - Letter to Sir William Coventry 1666 p. 105)…”

“…Whilst many scholars have studied the diary and the insight this gives us into the life and times of Pepys, few have considered his attitudes to business, professionalism, the role of accounting and accountability, with a forward-thinking attitude which enabled his achievements (McBride, 2022). Pepys's diary gives insight not only into the important events of the Stuart times but also into the development of his position in the Navy.…”

Innovation in accounting historiography: Where to from here?

“…Additionally, diaries and other ego-documents (Baggerman and Dekker, 2018), such as letters, often provide personal recollections, providing insight into how life was lived. As such, these may be (auto)ethnographic accounts of particular events or ways of doing business (Colli and Perez, 2020; Hämmerle and Evans, 2020; McBride, 2022; Patterson, 2020; Pugliatti, 2022), with quotes from the diaries providing insight and evidence in the writing up (Elspaß, 2012; McBride, 2022; Summerfield, 2018). Historic diaries are often available online, increasing accessibility for analysis and especially for the writing up, and speeds up a researcher's search for particular ideas, and the checking of quotes, words and phrases used.…”

“Fumifugium: Or the inconvenience of the Aer and Smoake of London Dissipated”: emancipatory social accounting in 17th century London

“…Carnegie and Napier (1996) suggest that the use of diaries, as well as other sources, represents an extension of traditional accounting and accountability research. Diaries give insight to personal perspectives on situations and contexts (McBride, 2020(McBride, , 2021. Gilbert White's nature diaries have been identified as early accounts of biodiversity and extinction accounting which also include problematisation of air pollution (Atkins and Maroun, 2020).…”