Michael Chatfield, A History of Accounting Thought (The Dryden Press, 1974, 314 pp.).
Reviewed by Turgut Var Simon Fraser University
Since accounting history is the study of the evolution of accounting thought, practices, and institutions in response to changes in the environment and societal needs, a book aimed to assist in teaching this discipline should consider the objectives very carefully-other¬wise the book may become irrelevant and voluminous. The main success of Professor Chatfield lies in his efforts to be concise and relevant to current accounting issues. As indicated in the preface of the book, the objective is to elevate basic accounting history from a state of scattered articles and books into a formal teaching aide. Less stress on earlier developments and more emphasis on more recent issues make this book readily adaptable to a variety of instructional purposes. Inclusion of an extensive bibliography to each chapter provides a valuable guide to readers who may wish to further study a particular item. Therefore, the book can be used by undergraduates in accounting as well as by graduate students who lack previous exposure to accounting and accounting history.
The objective of being relevant and concise, of course, required the author to employ limitations. First, as its title suggests, it is a book of history of ideas rather than a chronicle of events or collections of facts as compared to earlier books on accounting history in Europe. The second limitation affects the scope of the book considerably and to a certain extent constitutes a weakness. This limitation results from the assumption that accounting history is mainly the story of the economically dominant nation of the time. There¬fore, the earlier chapters are devoted to developments in Italy; from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, England occupies the main emphasis; the last chapters that deal with current issues are centered on the American experience.
It is natural for a reader to question this assumption because it introduces a bias. This is especially felt in discussion of accountancy and capitalist development in Chapter 8. Exclusion of some of the recent findings which give the Sombart thesis a fair trial tends to increase this bias. Moreover, Chapter 2, Medieval Account Keeping, (which is based on Professor Chatfield’s earlier article, “English Medieval Bookkeeping: Exchequer and Manor”) contradicts this dominant nation assumption. Probably a shorter chapter with reference to the original article would be more appropriate.
Part 2, Accounting Analysis in the Industrial Era, is very well written. Consideration of various movements for various purposes, i.e., auditing, professional development, cost accounting, government and business budgeting is given in short but very informative and consistent chapters. Reading these chapters one “feels” the different pace of progress and problems during the industrial era. This section should prove very useful not just to accountants but to lawyers, administrators and others interested in the evolution of financial planning, reporting and control.
The last five chapters constitute Part 3, A History of Accounting Theory, which mainly deals with the development in the United States. However, various references to developments in continental Europe give the reader a very sound background in understanding the U.S. developments in accounting theory. Chapter 16 contains a description of the “discovery and exposition of the theoretical framework which governs accounting practice and within which the specifics of modern theory have evolved.” After reading this chapter, one can begin to make headway in analyzing many current issues. Unfortunately, the book contains several typographical and other printing errors. Of course such errors do not reduce the value of this great and pioneering work in the field of instruction of accounting history.
(Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 5, 1974)
