Choreography of the Past: Accounting and the Writing of Christine de Pizan

Abstract

This research discusses The Treasure of the City of Ladies, a manuscript written by Christine de Pizan in France during the early 15th century to give guidance on account keeping and budgeting. Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but raised in the French royal court. Her manuscript gives the keeping of accounts and budget management a religious imperative. She describes them as functions where the three divine virtues of reason, rectitude, and justice are applied. Christine de Pizan describes how demonstrating these virtues through the proper keeping of accounts and budgets is a way to demonstrate love of God. Although historical accounting records show how accounting was done, this manuscript explains why it was done. In giving a rationale for single-entry bookkeeping and budgeting, the manuscript provides a source that prevents present-mindedness when attempting to undertake contemporary analyses of accounting records from this historical period.

Accounting and accountability practices in the obraje of San Ildefonso of Quito: An eighteenth century productive proto-capitalist model

“…An interpretative approach is adopted in this study about accounting practices within the obraje of San Ildefonso in Quito province and within the Administration of Temporalidades. This approach is based on the description, analysis and interpretation of the data and events studied (Carnegie and Napier, 1996;Miley and Read, 2017;Napier, 2001;Parker, 2004). The study endeavoured to emphasise the role of ideology, consisting of a set of institutions and practices, historically and socially positioning the analysis within a specific context in which the subject of the research resides.…”

Entertainment as an archival source for historical accounting research

“…There is also the challenge of understanding the social, cultural, political and economic circumstances in which past records were created (Carnegie, 1995). The original intent of the author may not be known or may be unintentionally interpreted through a present-minded lens (Miley and Read, 2017). If there is no archive, an area may not become the subject of research investigation.…”

“…Usually, the challenge is to understand its operation in another time period but in a culture with which we feel a certain familiarity. Sometimes, this sense of familiarity is misplaced and represents our present-mindedness (Miley and Read, 2017). However, the problem of historical distance is compounded when there is cultural distance and an accounting system operates in a culture so foreign to us that we may miss aspects of it or misinterpret how it operates because of an Otherness that remains hidden to us.…”

Gender construction and the invisibility of women’s accounting activities: the All Nations’ Fair of 1895

“…Historical research on the accounting contributions of women portrays a gendered struggle for recognition (Cooper, 2010;Hronsky et al, 2015;Miley and Read, 2016;Spruill and Wootton, 1995;Walker, 2006Walker, , 2011. Extant accounting research indicates that both women's historical contribution to accounting and the extent of their historical struggle for recognition in accounting will remain understated because their historical subjugations had consequences for archiving their contributions (Miley and Read, 2017), accounting is predicated on a masculine epistemology (Kirkham, 1992;Kirkham and Loft, 2001;Komori, 2008b), and social factors have rendered the accounting work of women invisible (Adapa et al, 2016;Emery et al, 2002;Kirkham, 1992;Kirkham and Loft, 1993;Kokot, 2015;McKeen and Richardson, 1995;Reid et al, 1987). Beyond accounting, researchers have recognised that gender construction has also been a significant factor in the under-valuing of women's contribution in areas of work that have become professionalised (Lerner, 1981(Lerner, , 1993(Lerner, , 1998Shapiro, 1994;Thane, 1992).…”