Reviewed by Terry K. Sheldahl Savannah, Georgia
This book was largely developed in connection with the seventy-fifth anniversary, in 1975, of the organization known since 1922 as the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. The fifteen chapters were written independently by the late William Holmes (six), the two other listed authors (three each), Williard Stone, Anthony Krzystofik, and prominent Massachusetts accountant Ernest Berg. Much of the material had appeared in article form in the society’s journal.
The table of contents divides the book into two parts, covering a variety of Massachusetts accounting developments from the founding of the Plymouth Colony in 1620 to modern times, including selected twentieth-century firms and personalities; and the history through 1970 of the state society. Holmes was the principal author of part 1 (oversimply titled “Early Massachusetts Accounting”), while his coauthors Kistler and Corsini wrote part 2. Given the disproportion in time periods covered by the two parts, and to a lesser extent in length of coverage, formal division of part 1 between seventeenth-century accounting (chapters 1-5) and subsequent development of the field (chapters 6-10) would have been appropriate.
The earliest material is divided about equally between the Pil-grims of Plymouth and the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, closing with events occurring at the latter group’s original settlement site shortly after the 1691 merger. Seriously hindered in the early days by poor record-keeping, the Pilgrims are shown to have later developed an impressive system of municipal accounting, including an audit process. Development of public budgetary and taxation systems amidst a predominantly barter economy is interestingly described.
In keeping with advance provisions made by the original English sponsors for regular audits of treasury transactions, the Puritans were account-conscious from the founding of their colony in 1630. Colonial merchants and officials were soon themselves engaged in broad public audit functions, commencing a process that would in Boston by the early 1700s embody surprisingly modern features. Covered also, largely through very extensive illustration, are the accounts of Massachusetts Bay merchants engaged in West Indian trade. Within such a colonial environment, it seems only fitting that the famous witch trials opened in 1692 in Salem, Mass., were ‘well and truly “accounted for” ‘, and that “a large part of the [pertinent] accounts were duly audited” (p. 83).
Due to prevailing inaccessibility of archival material, treatment of the eighteenth century is by acknowledgement (p. 251) the weakest link in the book. Aside from extensions of prior topics into the early 1700s, it is largely limited to citation from an authoritative secondary source of numerous advertisements by Massachusetts teachers of double-entry bookkeeping and/or “merchants ac-compts’.’ Holmes notes that three persons were listed as “ac-comptants” in the first Boston directory, dated 1789, but not that they were identified with different occupations in the second one.
Coverage of the 1800s is based mainly on careful study of Boston city directories over a period of population growth from 18,000 (1800) to 140,000 (1850) to 450,000 (1890), and remarkable commercial, industrial, and transportational development at both city and state levels. The three “compting room” references of 1810 are taken to signify some form of public accounting. By 1820 there were substantially more entries, and the terms “accountant” and “counting room” appeared, soon to be joined by the title “bookkeeper.” Accountants by midcentury commonly, used specialized books and columnar analysis sheets, according to Holmes, and recognized the role and importance of financial statements. Accounting for corporate business and capital assets basically still lay in the future, however, except within the emerging railroad industry, credited with a major role in the development of modern accounting.
During the period 1850-65, listed Boston “accountants” were few in number, perhaps because “bookkeeper” services had been upgraded by proprietary commercial colleges. Public accountants would reappear with the early growth after the Civil War of modern corporate business, particularly within the manufacturing area. Soon the first faint signs of professional accountancy would be observed in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Coverage of general accounting history in the state is concluded by two highly overlapping chapters (by different authors) profiling the three major accounting firms that developed in western Massachusetts, and the leading personalities associated with two of them. One of the in-dividuals prominently cited, Edwin C. Doubleday, whose father (Edwin S.) had founded one of the firms and later earned the state’s first CPA certificate, is reported to have been still in rather active practice in 1975, at age eighty-seven.
The final five chapters are devoted to the founding in 1900 of the “Incorporated Public Accountants of Massachusetts,” and the evolution of that organization and its successors into the modern-day state CPA society. Development of the local CPA program, originating in 1910, is carefully reviewed in terms of entry requirements, the qualifying examination, ethics, restrictive legislation, professional development, and selected legal issues. Special attention is given to the pervasive influence exerted by the society.
Interaction of the state society with national organizations, particularly the AI(CP)A, is nicely covered, and useful references are made to some of its leading figures and to its involvement in civic and social activities. Building on references made by Holmes and Berg to early accounting instruction, Corsini in the final chapter briefly summarizes collegiate coverage of the field in Massachusetts since 1900.
By and large, the book is interesting, and fulfills the stated intention of combining “quality research with a readable format” (p. 1). The authors’ judgment that “the chapters on 17th century accounting are particularly valuable” (p. 3) seems reasonable. Several shortcomings should be mentioned, however. There is some lack of unity and coordination within this collection of individual chapters contributed by six different persons, and, depending upon the author, footnoting is minimal or nonexistent. These defects are offset in part, however, by largely chronological organization and citation, usually, of major sources.
The identification made of “The first four [American] writers” of bookkeeping texts (p. 113) is seriously in error. For example, the Rev. Richard Turner, an Englishman whose book had appeared in a posthumous American edition of 1794, is cited as the second American author (1801). It is especially surprising that Holmes’ undocumented author list is highly inconsistent with Boston bibliographer H. C. Bentley’s standard listing. Erroneous reference is made also to a “9th edition” of John Mair’s text Book-keeping
“Methodiz’d” published in 1817 (p. 107). The 9th edition of Mair’s Book-keeping “Moderniz’d” did appear in 1807, but in substance it was at least the 166th numbered edition of the textbook series originating, under the other title, in 1736.
Certain stylistic or wording patterns are somewhat distractive. In most cases quotation marks are used unnecessarily within indented citations. The three chapters by Professor Corsini are marked by use of pompous or jargonized expressions, including “concomitant,” “perforce,” “halcyon,” “neophytes,” “venial,” “disseminating,” “ramifications,” and (in capitalized form) “academia.” In light of the authors’ resolve “to guard against allowing their personal interpretations and biases to creep into the writing” (p. 255), Corsini also identifies himself unduly with the objectives of the Massachusetts Society. He uses the word “fortunately,” without any qualification, in separately discussing several events that supported those purposes.
Following page 242, finally, the pages (at least in the review copy) are generally out of order. They are correctly numbered through page 256, however, and the appendices and book list that follow are properly labelled.
These blemishes are not serious. The book, whose title understates by fifty years the time span covered, is recommended both to accounting historians and a broader audience. At a personal level, it represents a fitting memorial to an outstanding nonacademic historian, Bill Holmes.
