Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution

Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution PDF

Author: Gregory B. Waymire

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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We consider accounting from an evolutionary perspective. Accounting encompasses the creation of transactional records, the summarization of records in t-accounts, and the preparation of audited financial statements. Accounting's history spans at least 10,000 years dating back to the first human settlements in ancient Mesopotamia. Our focus is on the study of accounting history in three ways: providing useful thoughts experiments valuable to researchers interested in the development of modern practices, the use of historical data to test formal hypotheses about the origins of accounting practices, and the development of theories and related empirical evidence that explain accounting based on evolution and ecological rationality. Within this third area, we describe the basis for hypotheses and empirical analyses concerning six issues: (1) the emergence of recordkeeping, (2) the effect of double-entry bookkeeping on the scale and scope of economic organization, (3) the spontaneous emergence of norms of practice in accounting, (4) the impact of law, regulation, and taxation on accounting, (5) the demand for broad principles in evaluating accounting method choices, and (6) the relation between economic crises and major discontinuities in accounting practice.

Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution

Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution PDF

Author: Gregory B. Waymire

Publisher: Now Publishers Inc

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1601981600

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Accounting is an Evolved Economic Institution summarizes accounting history over the past ten thousand years and can be used as a primer of accounting history.

Evolution of Corporate Financial Reporting (RLE Accounting)

Evolution of Corporate Financial Reporting (RLE Accounting) PDF

Author: T. A. Lee

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-02-05

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1134715218

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This book explores certain contemporary problems of accounting through the eyes and pens of historians. Many accounting problems are not new ones and it is therefore important to understand their history and development through the ages. This book places twentieth century studies in context and provides clues to possible solutions. The focus of this book is on companies and their financial reports and will be of use to students of economic and business history who wish to provide themselves with an accounting background in relation to the financial reports of companies they may be studying.

Global History of Accounting, Financial Reporting and Public Policy

Global History of Accounting, Financial Reporting and Public Policy PDF

Author: Gary J. Previts

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2012-07-17

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0857248154

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The Global Accounting History four volume set aims to establish a benchmark reference source that covers the evolution of accounting, financial reporting and related institutions for all major economies in the world in a comparable way.

Accountants Without Standards?

Accountants Without Standards? PDF

Author: David Roderic Myddelton

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13:

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In this book the author argues persuasively that the ' ... "authority" claimed for accounting standards, especially those dealing with measurement, is unwise in intellectual and commercial matters.' Section I begins with a brief history of accounting standards, Section II reviews the arguments for and against standards, Section III discusses the purpose of company accounts, Section IV discusses the setting and enforcing of standards, and the problems which have arisen both in Britain and the United States from political interference in standard setting and Section V assesses the case for and against compulsory standards.

A History of Financial Accounting (RLE Accounting)

A History of Financial Accounting (RLE Accounting) PDF

Author: J. R. Edwards

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-12-04

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1134678886

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This volume deals with the evolution of accounting from earliest times, and gives particular attention to corporate accounting developments since the Industrial Revolution. The author identifies the various sources of accounting practices employed by British companies, to demonstrate the main changes which have taken place, when they occurred and why. The author emphasises the need to understand the legal, social and economic context in which accountancy changes take place, and also studies the conflicts which arise between suppliers and users of accounting statements. The study concludes with an examination of the duties performed by the professional accountant, the extent to which these have changed in the course of time and how his position in society is reinforced by the activities of professional institutions.

Accounting by the First Public Company

Accounting by the First Public Company PDF

Author: Warwick Funnell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-12

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1134747489

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The United Dutch East India Company was the first public company, preceding the formation of the English East-India Company by over 40 years. Its fame as the first public company which heralded the transition from feudalism to modern capitalism and its remarkable financial success for nearly two centuries ensure its importance in the history of capitalism. Although a publicly owned, highly complex and diversified business, and commonly agreed to be the largest and most profitable business in the 17th century, throughout its existence the Dutch East-India Company never produced public accounts of its financial affairs which would have allowed investors to judge the performance of the Company. Its financial accounting, which changed little during its lifetime, was not designed as an aid to rational investment decision-making by communicating the Company’s financial performance but to be a means of promoting sound stewardship by senior management. This study examines the contributions of accounting to the remarkable success of the Dutch East-India Company and the influences on these accounting practices. From the time that the German economic historian Werner Sombart proposed that accounting techniques, most especially double-entry bookkeeping, were critical to the development of modern capitalism and the public company, historians and accounting scholars have debated the extent and importance of these contributions. The Dutch East-India Company was a capitalistic enterprise that had a public, permanent capital and its principal objective was to continually increase profit by reinvesting its returns in the business. Rather than the organisation and management of the Dutch East-India Company reflecting the perceived benefits of a particular bookkeeping method, the supremacy that it achieved and maintained in a very hazardous business at a time of recurring conflict between European states was a consequence of the practicalities of 17th century business and The Netherlands’ unique, threatening natural environment which shaped its social and political institutions.

Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice

Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice PDF

Author: Anthony G. Hopwood

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1994-10-06

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9780521469654

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Accounting as Social and Institutional Practice is the first major collection of critical and socio-historical analyses of accounting. It gathers together work by scholars of international renown on the social and institutional nature of accounting to address the conditions and consequences of accounting practice. Challenging conventional views that accounting is a technical practice, and that it comprises little more than bookkeeping, this collection demonstrates the importance of analysing the multiple arenas in which accounting emerges and operates. As accounting continues to gain in importance in so many spheres of social life, an understanding of the conditions and consequences of this calculative technology is vital. Its relevance extends far beyond the discipline of accounting. This book will be of considerable interest for specialists in organisational analysis, sociologists, and political scientists, as well as the general reader interested in understanding the increasing significance of accounting in contemporary society.

Economic Influences on the Development of Accounting in Firms

Economic Influences on the Development of Accounting in Firms PDF

Author: George J. Staubus

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-29

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 1000363899

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A view of accounting as a practical activity – a service function whose value depends on its adaptation to the environment in which it serves – is a good place to start this book, originally published in 1996. While arts such as music and drama can be said to serve human needs, their development presumably cannot be explained primarily by reference to the economic features of their environments. By contrast, an economic service function such as accounting develops in response to economic features of its environment. The objective of this book is to stimulate interest in explaining the development of specific features of accounting as we know it in the firms that are so important to the economies of Western industrialized countries by reference to the economic features of those firms. The emphasis in this work is on the influence of economic features of the firm in the development of accounting.