The Waltham System and Early American Textile Cost Accounting 1813–1848

Porter, David M.

doi:10.2308/0148-4184.7.1.1

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They deconstruct two, February 1848, summary statements from the Lawrence Manufacturing Company and conclude that these statements do little more than track moneys in and out of the accounts and serve 'classic mercantile purposes ' (1996: 337). Since these statements are representative of mill accounting, they argue, certain scholars (Porter, 1980;Tyson, 1992) have overstated accounting's importance to managers at the US mills during the period. Hoskin and Macve (1996: 348) conclude that the managerial uses of cost information are 'long on theory, but short on evidence'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Mercantilism, management accounting or managerialism? Cost accounting in early nineteenth-century US textile mills

Tyson¹

1998

Accounting, Business & Financial History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a recent critique of early US cost accounting practice, Hoskin and Macve (1996) conclude that Lawrence Manufacturing Company's 1848 cost accounting reports were purely mercantile and provided no managerial utility. Despite finding mathematically exact allocations and unit costs for different cloth grades and production locations, Hoskin and Macve argue that mill accounting was neither modern nor managerial, descriptors they limit to the exercise of disciplinary control over labour through standard costs and variances. They conclude that scholars have overstated the managerial utility of cost accounting during the first half of the nineteenth century. In rebuttal, this paper garners archival evidence to show that cost accounting was used by early nineteenth-century US textile owner/managers in a variety of decision-making, management control and problem-solving scenarios. Specific attention was directed to evidence in forms other than accounting ledgers and summary statements, i.e. letters, memoranda, cost reports, etc., which might reveal if and how accounting was used to address issues such as make-or-buy, product pricing, wage setting, site selection and asset expansion and acquisition. While the absence of standard costs and variances affirms Hoskin and Macve's narrow interpretation of managerialism, evidence presented refutes their wider, more substantive claim that cost accounting served only mercantile purposes at the US mills.Us, Cost, Accounting, History, Managerialism, Textile, History,

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Mercantilism, management accounting or managerialism? Cost accounting in early nineteenth-century US textile mills

Tyson¹

1998

Accounting, Business & Financial History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To calculate the costs of direct work and the total cost of converting products into assets. Already in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, some companies in the USA, according to Porter (1980) used advanced expenditure accounts. New accounting systems for the monitoring and recording of cash inventories in this period have been developed, as well as for timely administration and a detailed expense declaration (Kamal, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of external and internal factors on management accounting practices: a study of Pakistan

Shahzadi

Khan

Toor

et al. 2018

AJAR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose -The accounting system plays an important role in the company's organizational structure. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the integration of management accounting practices is subject to coordination between external and internal factors and accounting management practices. Design/methodology/approach -Therefore, the authors move to the contingency model to determine the most significant external "unexpected factors" that explain the introduction of management practices for the management of the various stages of development. The exploratory study examines a sample of Pakistani companies from various sectors.Findings -This study reveals that the main factors of uncertainty that affect the organizational structure, environmental uncertainty, advanced production technology, just-in-time method strategy, integrated management of quality and structure findings reveal that MAP affected all process and changes all system in simple to complex system in Pakistani's industries. Practical implications -This study is to acquisition the impact of external factors on management accounting practices, to find the impact of internal factors on management accounting practices, to establish the management accounting practices undertaken by the companies in Pakistan. Originality/value -The study contributes to the literature by enhancing our understanding for the impact of external and internal factors on management accounting practices in Pakistan.

show abstract

“…Several of the 1827, 1828 and 1830 memoranda in Appleton's papers in particular have been discussed by Tyson (1992, 11) as signs of cost control, though he seemed to conclude later on, speaking of a similar memorandum, that "the available evidence does not permit a more precise conclusion about the actual use of cost information" which can be found within these sources (Tyson 1998, 218). Indeed, Porter (1980) for his part only referenced reports from LMC in the 1830s, and in his answer to Hoskin and Macve (1996), Tyson (1998) also mostly used material from the same later period. This is where we propose to go a step further, examining how several of these earlier sheets from the 1820s were constructed.…”

Section: Theoretical Lens and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors (Porter 1980;Lubar 1983;Tyson 1992) have argued that the yearly inventories of cloth provided by managers in both Waltham and Lowell reflected actual unit costs. Each cloth had a particular valuation in cents, but there is reason to think that this valuation was a based on current market prices, not cost estimates.…”

Section: Unit Costs and Target Prices: Managerial Use Of Cost Informamentioning

confidence: 99%

Costing in the early Industrial Revolution: gradual change to cost calculations at US cloth mills in the 1820s

Gervais

Quinn

2016

Accounting History Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper details the cost accounting practices at some US cotton mills in the early 1800s. While some extant literature suggests these practices were more akin to management accounting, this paper takes a different view. Drawing on an institutional lens and some reverse engineering of cost calculations, we suggest that the calculations at these mills were indeed institutionalized and a merchant mindset on costs and profits was engrained within them. In this regard, the cost calculations were based on the comparative quality of cloth, and not costs traced specifically to a particular product. However, changes began to emerges toward the end of the 1820s, when the cost calculations were in some instances more specific to the particular product. This gradual change may be due to external market and economic forces effecting existing practices.

show abstract

The Waltham System and Early American Textile Cost Accounting 1813–1848

Cited by 21 publications

References 1 publication

Mercantilism, management accounting or managerialism? Cost accounting in early nineteenth-century US textile mills

Mercantilism, management accounting or managerialism? Cost accounting in early nineteenth-century US textile mills

Impact of external and internal factors on management accounting practices: a study of Pakistan

Costing in the early Industrial Revolution: gradual change to cost calculations at US cloth mills in the 1820s

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About