Kenneth O. Elvik, Editor
IOWA STATE UNlVERSlTY
Reviewed by Torao Moteki Rikkyo University
About one hundred years has passed since the Japanese economic system changed from feudalism to capitalism. In the Edo Era (the feudal period), there were native (non-Western) Japanese bookkeeping systems. When the Meiji Era (modern capitalism) came, the form and principle of double-entry bookkeeping was introduced and generalized. The essence of the latter is much the same as that of West-European bookkeeping. Native Japanese bookkeeping is not necessarily double-entry bookkeeping while modern Japanese methods are based on double-entry bookkeeping history.
Twenty-one leading members of the Japan Accounting Association contributed special articles to make up this volume, the first publication of a complete history of modern accounting in Japan. The research includes the entire modern accounting era from the early Meiji period up to the present time and (begins with the introduction of West-European bookkeeping in the early Meiji era.)
The first historical article is “The Birth of Modern Bookkeeping and Accounting” by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Prof. Kurosawa wrote from the reviews of “Choainoho” and “Ginkobokiseiho”, both published in the sixth year of Meiji (1873). These old Japanese bookkeeping books are based on the theory of the West-European bookkeeping system. With the assumption that accounting history is a study based on the system of double-entry bookkeeping, can we systematize the role of fuedal accounting history as a part of Japanese accounting history?
The volume is made up of three main parts. The first is “The Development of Bookkeeping and Accounting from the Meiji Eca to World War II”. This part contains six articles, including “Birth of Modern Bookkeeping and Accounting” by K. Kurosawa; “Signifi¬cance of Enactment of The Commercial Code” by I. Katano; “Ac¬counting Standards Prescribed by Commerce and Industrial Development”, by K. Kurosawa.
The second part is “The Development of Modern Accounting after World War II”. This part has nine articles. Our accounting theories and practices since 1945, were largely influenced by American accounting theories and practices. This part deals mainly with the advancement of “Business Accounting Principles”. Starting points of modern accounting are identifiable and studies of managerial amounting are popular.
The third part is entitled “Problems and Perspective of Future Accounting” and consists of eight parts. The writers analyze new accounting problems; for example, international accounting standards, consolidations, accounting for inflation, and other topics of a current nature. This book was published as an historical perspective of current accounting problems and includes not only the history of financial accounting but also managerial accounting.
The research covers many fields of accounting theory, analyzed by specialized scholars.
Recently, the study of West-European accounting history has developed very rapidly, but there has not yet been a development of an all-inclusive historical methodology. Of course, a single person’s research cannot cover all the fields of accounting history. Joint work is becoming more of a necessity. This book has great significance as the fruit of study of Japanese accounting history by co-operative effort. The task of Japanese accounting historians is to analyze the source of characters of accounting (instruments), ac-counting theories, and accounting thoughts. The standard of Japanese accounting history evolved up to a level comparative to that of West Europe. This cooperative venture by 21 persons is highly recommended.
Written Contributions of Selected Accounting Practitioners, Vol. 1: Ralph S. Johns (Urbana-Champaign: Center for International Education and Research in Accounting, University of Illinois, 1976, pp. 383, paper, $5.00)
