Reviewed by Edward N. Coffman Virginia Commonwealth University
This book consists of an examination of accounting practices in Colonial America and a consideration of the role of accounting in the management of business from the early 17th to the late 18th century. The book is divided into three primary sections.
The first section of the book (pp. 3-6) describes the business or economic environment that existed in Colonial America, including a discussion of the types of monetary units used in exchange transactions. Information in this section provides a valuable framework or setting for the contents of the latter sections of the book.
Most of the nonagricultural businesses in Colonial America were operated by merchants. Section two (pp. 7-15) provides a discussion, along with appropriate illustrations, of the accounting techniques and financial books used by merchants in managing their financial affairs. Two classes of financial books are discussed: A. General Books—(1) waste book or memorial, (2) journal, or in lieu of these two a daybook, and (3) a ledger; B. Subsidiary Books— (1) letter book, (2) invoice book, and (3) warehouse of tobacco book.
Section three (pp. 17-30) examines early developments in industrial or cost accounting. It also provides illustrations of how accounting information was used by industrialists of Colonial America, to segregate and accumulate costs, control production, and reduce waste in such industries as shipbuilding, nailery manufacturing and iron manufacturing, in particular. Reference was also made to accounting techniques used in the joint venture type of organization.
The book is interesting reading and it contains a valuable biblio-graphy (pp. 37-40). It is, however, based largely on secondary sources and the discussions and illustrations are brief and limited in scope. The book does, as intended by the authors, provide in-sight ,into an area of historical development of accounting that has basically neglected in the past, and it establishes the basis for an expanded and more in-depth examination of this area of account-ing history. For additional comments concerning this book, refer to an article based on its contents entitled “American Accounting Practices— CIRCA 1776 ” appeared in the June, 1976 issue of Management Accounting (pp. 53-56).
