The historical significance of double-entry bookkeeping: Some non-Sombartian claims

Abstract

Werner Sombart's views on the connection between double-entry bookkeeping and the rise of capitalism are well known and have been influential. In recent decades other views - independent of Sombart's - claiming historical significance for double entry have also been published. Three of these disparate claims are considered in this article: the connection between double entry and Manichaeism; the influence of the rhetoric of double entry; and double entry and the recognition in Western Europe of zero as a number.Accounting history, Werner Sombart, Manichaeism, rhetoric, zero, Luca Pacioli,

Alberto Ceccherelli (1885–1958): pioneer in the history of accounting practice and leader in international dissemination

“…Consequently, Ceccherelli's evidence contributes to the arguments of accounting historians who agree with Sombart's opinion (Most 1972;Williams 1978;Keenan 1998). Alternatively, Ceccherelli's opinion may be debated by other scholars challenging Sombart's theory on rationalistic grounds, believing DEB to be unable to support the decision-making process (Yamey 1949(Yamey , 1964(Yamey , 2005Pollard 1968;Carruthers and Espeland 1991), or on critical grounds (Bryer 1993a;Miller and Napier 1993;Funnell 2001;Chiapello 2007). In fact, Ceccherelli did not speculate that DEB aimed to support merchant decision-making but rather that cost accounting did.…”

“…Yamey was a strong supporter of this opinion, especially when he argued that DEB was mainly a way of balancing accounts in a clear and correct way (Yamey 1949(Yamey , 1964(Yamey , 2005. Edwards (1980), Lemarchand (1994), Edwards, Dean, andClarke (2009), Toms (2010) and Funnell and Robertson (2011) indicate that DEB was not the only accounting model used by capitalist enterprises because charge and discharge accounting systems coexisted in many countries and periods.…”

The significance of a ‘correct and uniform system of accounts’ to the administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834

“…Keenan argued that DEB proved superior to single-entry in large-scale business organisations during and after the Industrial Revolution in England, and that the financial reports DEB supported provided better and more complete information suited to the complex agency relationships of the joint stock company (Keenan 1998a(Keenan , 1998b. 2 In contrast, Yamey (2005) sees the financial statements in commercial organisations as by-products of the DEB system and, therefore, of little explanatory significance in the adoption of DEB. For him, the 'instrumental efficiency' of DEB in coping with large volumes of transactions was of far greater significance.…”

Retórica y contabilidad: de la crítica retórica a la retórica crítica

“…Thompson (1991) atribuye su difusión no solo a la presión de los comerciantes, sino a la influencia de la iglesia, de los editorialistas y de las instituciones pedagógicas, en cuyo seno floreció la retórica como conocimiento escolar; Yamey (2005) encuentra su origen en las actitudes maniqueístas expresadas en la retórica de la época; en tanto el trabajo de Aho (2005) muestra el origen de la partida doble como un intento de conciliar los intereses económi-cos, concebidos como morales, con el precepto del cristianismo. De esta forma el "dar cuenta de", se convierte en expresión del escrúpulo propio de la penitencia, y la partida doble, en la forma de justificar su riqueza.…”