Garry D. Carnegie DEAKTN UNIVERSITY
and
Scott A. Varker BUSINESS RESULTS GROUP

EDWARD WILD: ADVOCATE OF SIMPLIFICATION AND AN ORGANISED PROFESSION IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA

Abstract: As far as can be established, Edward Wild’s book, Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy, was the second book on accounting to be published in Australia. Apart from the presentation of his simplified system of double entry bookkeeping, Wild advocated the establishment of an organised Australian accounting profession in his book. This paper examines the life and career of Wild and describes and analyses the content of his book. The book is placed within the local Victorian context. Possible influences on Wild’s writing are examined and the possible influence of Wild on later developments in Australian accounting is addressed.

INTRODUCTION

The accounting literature abounds with studies of the first or early printed books on accounting published in various countries. To date, it has been established by Carnegie and Parker (1994) that the first printed Australian accounting book was written by James Dimelow. Dimelow’s book, Practical Bookkeeping Made Easy, was selfpublished in sets during 187173 in Ballarat. So far as is known, the second accounting book published in Australia was written by Edward Wild. His book, Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy, was printed in Melbourne
Acknowledgement: The authors thank RJ. (Dick) Edwards, Louis Goldberg, Lee D. Parker, Robert H. Parker and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on prior versions of this paper. This paper also reflects the comments received from participants at a Deakin University, Faculty of Management, research seminar and a session at the 1994 European Accounting Association Congress held in Venice.

by Sands & McDougall in 1874.1 In his book, Wild proposed a simplified system of accounting by double entry for widespread adoption and advocated the formation of an association of accountants. Wild’s advocacy of a local, organised accounting profession was primarily based on his push for the standardisation of accounting practice under a simplified system and came more than a decade before the advent of the first Australian professional accounting body.2 This paper recognises Wild as a pioneering accounting author in the colonial era and aims to augment the literature on accounting development in Australia.3 The content of any book, including books on accounting, is influenced by the author’s life experiences, education and social context. Given these perceptives, this paper examines the life and career of Wild along with the local Victorian context within which Wild’s book was written. There follows a description and analysis of Wild’s book and a discussion of his arguments for the professionalisation of accounting in Australia. Possible influences on Wild’s writing are examined and his possible influence on later developments in Australian accounting is also considered.

WILD’S LIFE AND CAREER

Edward Wild was born in Yorkshire, England in 1806 to John Wild, a publican, and Anna (nee Copely). By the time Wild reached the age of 19 years, he was living abroad in Hamburg, Germany for he married Anna Da Silva there in 1825. Anna Da Silva was born to a merchant father in the Portuguese city of Oporto in 1805. It is therefore unlikely that Wild gained any substantial commercial experience whilst he resided in England. Wild and his wife continued to live in Hamburg for about two years after their marriage before settling in Oporto, Portugal.

Wild was a finance broker in Portugal. At Oporto in 1832, he introduced what was described as the system of Bill Brokerage for fixing the Rate of Exchange for the British Merchants. Wild was sufficiently recognised in Portugal for some 33 British

‘An original copy of Wild’s book is held at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne and also at The British Library, London.
2As the earliest known professional accounting body in Australia, The Adelaide Society of Accountants was formed in November 1885 and incorporated on 30 March 1886 [Parker, 1961; Gavens, 1990, p.386].

‘Federation of the six colonies within Australia into the Commonwealth of Australia occurred on 1 January 1901. From this date, the Colonies became known as States.

Merchants to sign a testimonial of 17 December 1845 which acknowledged this accomplishment and his involvement in the finance broking profession for nearly 13 years.4 A copy of this testimonial written in English was included in Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy [p.35]. Wild was also involved in the wine trade at Oporto during his 27 years in that city and had experience chiefly in the wine produce of Douro [The Argus, 9 April 1860, p.6; Victoria, Report of the Royal Commission 1867, p. 116]. Wild departed Portugal in 1854 bound for Melbourne in the Colony of Victoria. While no official shipping records of his arrival were found, residence in Victoria from 1854 is confirmed by death registration records which state that Wild resided in the Colony for 23 years until his death in Melbourne on 23 April 1877.

On his arrival in Victoria in 1854, Wild evidently rendered services as an accountant for he acted for the Hon. J.P. Bear, Member of the Legislative Council of Victoria (MLC), of Messrs. Bear and Son [pp.5 and 13 of Wild’s book].5 In 1856, Wild was involved in a partnership with Charles Vaughan in the vocation of estate agents and stockbrokers.6 The partnership of Vaughan and Wild dealt mostly in the sale and purchase of real estate7 [Hall, 1968, p. 11]. An early land acquisition by Vaughan and Wild was in August 1856 when they purchased the pastoral run of “Maryville” near Morwell [Billis and Kenyon, 1974, p.153]. According to Billis and Kenyon, the partnership held a total of 12 other pastoral runs in Victoria at different times during the period 185664. Wild also held in his own right the “Saintfield”

4A dedication referring to this testimonial was published in the Oporto newspaper, TV. Coallisao, of 9 January 1846. The dedication provided evidence of the signing of the testimonial by the British Merchants. The dedication was subsequently translated into English by a Thomas Smith in Liverpool, on 26 January 1846 [p.36 of Wild’s book].
5Messrs. Bear and Son were stock and station agents in Victoria [Brownfoot, 1979, p.230].

6Vaughan was Inspector of General Markets in 1845, a member of the Committee of Mechanic’s Institute of Melbourne from 1846 to 1848 and the Treasurer of the Institute from 1854 to 1855. He practised as an accountant in Collins Street, Melbourne in 1846 and was the first Treasurer of the Melbourne Building Society, established in 1847. In public life, he was a Mayor of Fitzroy Council, and a Member of Lhe Legislative Council of Victoria from 1856 until his death at St Kilda in June 1864 [Garryowen, 1888, p.439; Billis and Kenyon, 1974, p.153; Askew, 1982, p.171; Servilie, 1991, p.447]. Billis and Kenyon [1974] was first published in 1932.

7There was no formal structure for the trading of shares in Melbourne until the establishment of a Stock Exchange in 1861 [Hall, 1968, pp. vii and 1347].

pastoral run near Merton from 1858 to January 1860 [Billis and Kenyon, 1974, p.160]. By 1860, Vaughan and Wild were operating a brewery in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.8 In 1861, the brewery became known as the Cambridge Brewery when the partners shifted the business to Cambridge Street, Collingwood. By 1869, the firm of Crisp and Co. had acquired the brewery which later was traded under the name “Star Brewery” [Duetsher, n.d.].

On publication of his book, Wild was 68 years of age and had taught bookkeeping at the Collingwood School of Design and the Auxiliary Artisans’ School of Works. These institutions were founded in 1871 and 1872 respectively by Joel Eade [Rundle, 1972, p. 124]. Wild undertook to teach his system of bookkeeping at these institutions “in order to prove the simplicity and efficacy” of the system and pointed out that after three lectures “three of the lads are sufficiently advanced to be able to teach others” [p.6 of Wild’s book]. It is not known when Wild began to teach bookkeeping or whether he taught at these institutions on a fulltime basis or on a casual or visiting basis. Wild stated in his book that he had spent 50 years as an accountant; the first 10 under the “old system” of accounting and 40 years under the system he proposed “to introduce to his fellow accountants and the public” [p. 3 7]. Wild’s long experience as an accountant evidently dates from his time in Germany and embraces his pursuits as a finance broker and involvement in the wine trade in Portugal, and his activities as an estate agent and stockbroker, investor, brewer and bookkeeping teacher in the Colony of Victoria. He had evidently developed his simplified system prior to arriving in Australia in 1854.

Wild was an ardent lover of music and for many years was a liberal patron of various musical institutions in Melbourne. In his later years he became reduced in circumstances [The Australasian Sketcher, 12 May 1877, p. 19; Victorian Municipal Directory, 1878, p.81].

LOCAL VICTORIAN CONTEXT

The main stimulus to economic growth in Victoria in the early colonial period was the gold rush in the 1850s. The gold rush “transformed the quiet pastoral colony founded only 16
8On 12 December 1864, Wild stated that he had been engaged as a brewer in the Colony for “over four years” [Victoria, Report of the Select Committee … , 1865, p.20].

years earlier into an El Dorado” [Sykes, 1988, p.63]. The influx of gold seekers brought the advent of a more stable and permanent class of people who engaged themselves in mercantile and trading pursuits [Turner, 1973, p.364].9 The spurt to the economy was to such an extent during this period that it was claimed Melbourne “in 1852 was probably the most expensive place in the whole world to live in” [Turner, 1973, p.375]. In Melbourne suburbs such as Emerald Hill (now South Melbourne), Collingwood and Richmond “the cost of land was prohibitive of picturesque display, and crowded blocks of cottages, tightly fitting the allotments and flimsy terraces, were the order of the day in 1853” [Turner, 1973, p.368].

Collingwood became known as the brewing capital of Australia [Dunstan, 1987, p. 18]. Dunstan explained the growth of the brewing industry in Victoria during the 1850s1870s as follows:
In 1856 Victoria had thirtyfive breweries, and in the city area of Melbourne bounded by Flinders, Spencer, La Trobe and Spring Streets there were 136 inns and taverns. Of course, many of them were just holes in the wall, fearful dens where the sheoaks and swipes could only be imagined. The breweries had evocative names, the Dublin, the Cambridge, the Phoenix, the Eagle and the Star. The peak was reached in 1871 when there were 126 breweries in Victoria turning out 13,061,145 gallons, brilliantly impressive for a colony that had a population of less than 800,000. That was 16.3 gallons a head [Dunstan, 1987, pp.67] (emphases added).

Given this dramatic growth reflecting the propensity for inhabitants to consume beer, the Victorian government understandably took a strong interest in the conduct of the industry during this period. In 1864, a Government Select Committee enquired into the progress and present condition of the manufacture in the Colony of tobacco, cigars and spirits under different duties and of ale and porter under an import duty. This enquiry was followed by a Royal Commission enquiry into the operation and effect of the Wine and Spirits Sale Statute, No. 227. Wild presented evidence at both of these enquiries.

In 1871, the population of Melbourne was 206,780 which represented 28.9 per cent of the total population of the Colony
‘Turner [1973] was first published in 1904.

of Victoria.10 In the early 1870s, Melbourne consisted of “a core of impressive facades interspersed with mean dwellings and shops, and its circles of suburbs stretching out for miles” [Serville, 1991, p.148]. On visiting Melbourne in 1872, John Walter Cross, in a private letter to his mother, described a city in transition and commented “I daresay however in time when it is all finished that it will be a himposing hediface (sic)” [Brown, 1971, p.442|.n This comment caught the tone of the precocious growth and development which occurred in Melbourne in the 1880s when it overtook Sydney as the major commercial and social centre of Australia and became known as “Marvellous Melbourne” [ Blainey, 1958, pp.125137; Davison, 1978, pp.229257]. The first professional association of accountants established in the Colony of Victoria was The Incorporated Institute of Accountants, Victoria. Founded in April 1886, this body was registered on 1 March 1887 under the Companies Statute 1864 [Australian Society of Accountants, 1963].

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF WILD’S BOOK

Wild’s book had both a short title, Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy, and a long title like many other books of its period [Parker 1984]. The long title was Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy. The Original Italian System of Bookkeeping by Double Entry Simplified. The use of the phrase “Italian System” is rather surprising at this late date [Parker, 1984]. Wild’s choice of title may have been influenced by Dimelow who used “made easy” in the title of his book. In writing his book, Wild intended to widen the use of double entry bookkeeping which he viewed as too complex under the “old system”. Wild’s focus is elucidated in his introduction which stated:

Mr Wild, in introducing his simple method of keeping accounts, claims no originality for the principle, but merely modifies the old Italian system of double entry, which he has brought to such simplicity that any intelligent person, male or female, can become a competent bookkeeper in three or four lessons, either by personal attendance or by correspondence, proof of which will appear in documents thereto annexed [p. 3].
Wild claimed that his “new” system of bookkeeping was “first
“Victorian YearBook 19312, p.38.
“His letter to Mrs William Cross was dated 13 April 1872. introduced” in Australia for Messrs. Bear & Son in 1854 [pp. 5 and 13].

Wild’s approach to simplification was to substitute a “Register” for the conventional day book, cash book and journal. The function of the Register was to record the details of daily transactions. These were posted at the same time in the ledger, thus enabling a balance sheet to be expeditiously prepared. Wild believed that the old system was too burdensome and did not permit the timely preparation of a periodic balance sheet. Wild claimed other advantages of his system including the following:

(i) rendering confusion of entry and the falsification of amounts impossible, and omission or error liable to immediate correction;
(ii) the use of the Register to act as a proof of the ledger;
(iii) ease of copying the contents of the Register for absent partners;
(iv) the reduction in office expenses on account of savings in labour;
(v) the widespread applicability of the system including in mercantile, pastoral, mining, legal and railway pursuits, and also in government [pp.34].

Wild also emphasised in the introduction of his book, the ease with which a knowledge of his system could be conveyed while pointing out that “the complicated system taught in schools, and adapted by the mercantile community, is one not easily imparted to youth …” [p.4].

Following the introduction [pp.35], is a section [pp.69] headed “Popular Education” which included reproductions of testimonials, and also correspondence with the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. In this section, Wild argued for the adoption of bookkeeping as an additional “free subject” at “State Schools” [p.6]. Testimonials provided by John Montgomery Templeton and Joel Eade were reproduced in the book to support the adoption of Wild’s system for teaching purposes. Acknowledged as the Founder of The National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Ltd (National Mutual) which was registered on 12 August 1869, accountant Templeton initially occupied the position of actuary and, on his death in 1908, held the positions of chairman and managing director of the organisation (The National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Ltd, 1969, pp. 4, 6, 9, 13 and 136). On 2 July 1874, Templeton was actuary and secretary of National Mutual when he wrote of Wild’s success in teaching the system at the Collingwood School of Design and stated this was “in itself a strong argument in favor of the introduction of your system to the public (i.e. State) schools” [p.7 of Wild’s book; Jordens, 1976, pp.252253]. Eade’s testimonial of 4 July 1874 referred to the ease with which certain lads at the two institutions he founded and presided over were taught bookkeeping by Wild with himself in attendance. In expressing his approval of Wild’s system, Eade stated “under the present systems of bookkeeping much time is wasted in stuffing youths with methods which are of little practical use to them when they enter upon business life” [p.7].
In the absence of any local professional accounting body, Wild sought the imprimatur of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce without much success. In a letter to Wild of 6 October 1874, B. Cowderoy, Secretary of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, stated:

I have now the honor, by desire of the committee [a subcommittee], to express their opinion that the system of keeping accounts which you submitted in the documents accompanying your letter is likely to prove a valuable one for businesses of a limited character, and especially useful for the commendable object you are seeking to promote so zealously and disinterestedly, viz., the familiarising the youths of the colony with the principle of double entry. I am, at the same time, however, to state that the committee doubt very much whether your system should be found capable of meeting the requirements of a varied and extensive business [p.8 of Wild’s book].

Despite the doubts raised in this correspondence about the adaptability of the proposed system to a large and varied business, Wild proceeded to publication in the absence of any attempt to convince readers of the invalidity, if any, of the criticism received.

There followed a set of illustrative accounts [pp. 1033] presented in the absence of instructions as to how to make the entries in the accounts. The accounts were of “George Simmons”, a merchant, which illustrated the use of a Register

lzIn a letter to B. Cowderoy of 9 October 1874, Wild sought to meet with the members of the subcommittee who reviewed his manuscript in order to convince them to reconsider their decision. In his reply of 13 October 1874, B. Cowderoy advised of the inability of the Chamber to meet Wild’s request for such a meeting [pp. 89 of Wild’s book].

with a set of hypothetical transactions (see extract in Appendix A) and the updating and balancing of the ledger by the Register. A balance sheet was presented as a product of the system. In illustrating the Register, Wild explained:

. . . that the employer has before him daily the details of every day’s transactions, which are at the same time posted in the Ledger, from which, at any moment by proving the correctness of the Ledger by the Register, as per form following [as reproduced in Appendix B], a Balance Sheet is furnished without further references [p.12].

Although the illustrative accounts were intelligible to Wild, they might have been of limited assistance to some readers in the absence of complementary oral instruction. Such instruction, of course, would have been provided by Wild or others who had acquired knowledge of his system.

Wild adopted a “how to” approach to bookkeeping and intended to make double entry more accessible to anyone seeking to “become a competent bookkeeper” [p.3 of Wild’s book]. Like most of his contemporaries, Wild did not examine issues of asset valuation. Nevertheless, he was concerned about the ability to produce accounts on a timely basis. This ostensible objective was commendable as was his desire to familiarise youths in the new Colony of Victoria with the principle of double entry. The further development of Wild’s professional career, however, may have been another intended consequence of the publication of his book. Wild suggested in his introduction that “young men will find it to their advantage to article themselves to Edward Wild for instruction on this method of account keeping…” [p.5].

Wild’s book was almost certainly not published in Britain. His views on local endeavour elucidate the decision to publish his book in Australia. On the issue of the ready availability of imported ales from Britain, Wild argued for the support of local enterprise in an essay written most likely in the 1860s titled “A Few Words: Protectionists, Freetraders and Patriots Generally”.13 In this essay, Wild stated:

… do not think so meanly and disparagingly of the land of your adoption as to suppose that British skill,
13A copy of this undated essay printed by Fergusson and Moore, Melbourne is available at the La Trobe Library of the State Library of Victoria.

British energy, British ability, and British domination cannot produce the same results in Australia which they do in the mother country (pp.34).
Wild’s support for colonial enterprise suggests that he did not find it to be essential to publish Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy in the “home country”.
WILD’S ARGUMENTS FOR AN ORGANISED ACCOUNTING PROFESSION

Wild’s call for the establishment of an association of accountants was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, documented call for an organised accounting profession in Australia. However, Wild’s earlier interest in the issue of professionalisation is evident from his comments made to the Royal Commission in 1866. With respect to brewing, Wild stated:
To have the trade [brewing] more efficiently conducted, and to secure proper persons to take charge of it, we think something like Licensed Victuallers’ Hall ought to be established . . . and a board appointed to examine all applicants for licenses as to their knowledge of the quality of the liquors they may have to purchase and supply to the public. I think that is one of the important things. / would make the publican’s business a profession. [Victoria, Report of the Royal Commission 1867, p.l 15] (emphasis added).
The first professional accounting body had been established in Scotland for over two decades when Wild advocated the establishment of an organised profession in Australia in 1874. The first body, The Society of Accountants in Edinburgh, was founded in 1853 and was granted a charter in 1854. In England, The Incorporated Society of Liverpool Accountants and the Institute of Accountants (London) were formed in 1870 as the earliest English bodies [Parker, 1961, p.337].14 In the nineteenth century, factors such as the growth of largescale organisations, the development of the limited liability company, high levels of

‘”The emergence of professional accounting bodies in England almost 20 years after the formation of The Society of Accountants in Edinburgh has been attributed to the availability in Scotland of more practical education and more favourable bankruptcy laws from an accountant’s perspective. Scottish accountants also developed close links with the legal profession. Courts in Scotland were more prepared to recognise the standing of accountants than were the English courts [Edwards, 1989, pp.277278].

insolvency and the advent of income tax brought demands for particular accounting services [Parker, 1989, p. 12]. As stated by Parker [1989, p. 12]:
These demands led to the emergence of specialist experts who came together to discuss common problems, to distinguish competent and honourable practitioners from incompetent and dishonourable ones, to raise their status and to protect their material interests.

Hence, the advent of professional associations of accountants. A cornerstone of professionalisation was the implementation of a system of examinations for entry into the profession and the adoption of tiered membership structures. This concept of how members of a social stratum establish and preserve their status, and how collective social mobility is achieved has been defined as “social closure” [Larson, 1977; Macdonald, 1985, p.541].

Nineteenth century Australian accountants were active importers of the British model of the accounting profession [Macdonald, 1936, p. 17; Brentnall, 1938, p.64; Parker 1989, pp.1219; Carnegie, 1993, p.61]. Australian accountants were successful in forming bodies from 1885 that were intended to elevate the status of their calling. Some 11 years earlier, Wild proposed the desirability of professional accounting qualifications in stating:

One important advantage to the mercantile public in the establishment .of an Accountants’ Association would be that certificates of ability of persons applying for situations might be issued by the association to persons submitting themselves for examination, and the possession of such a certificate should be accepted as sufficient guarantee that the holder was competent to discharge the duties demanded by (sic) him [p.37 of Wild’s book].

Wild presented two examples of persons who had no knowledge of any method of accounting to support this argument for credentialisrn in Australian accounting. One of these involved a merchant whose bookkeeper “was in the habit of taking home the books to be made up from slips of paper furnished by him to a party to whom he paid £2 per week” [p.37].
Wild’s advocacy of an organised profession was primarily based on the belief that an accounting body’s members would be able to stipulate the adoption of certain methods of accounting. More particularly, Wild linked the establishment of an association of accountants with the need he perceived for the adoption of a uniform simplified system of bookkeeping. He argued that the adoption by the members of an accounting body of “one uniform method of simplifying the Italian system of Bookkeeping by Double Entry . . . would be a great boon to employers, several of whom have confessed that they do not understand the system of keeping books at present in use” [p.37].

It was not until 1974 when the Australian professional accounting bodies first instigated attempts to regulate accounting by means of the adoption of accounting standards.15 Although professional accounting standards are concerned with the standardisation of specific accounting practices rather than with the structure of accounting records, it is evident that rules for either involve the mandating of actions to be taken by members in preparing accounts. Perhaps, not surprisingly, Wild’s call for the adoption of a common, simplified system of bookkeeping was not deliberated upon by the professional accounting bodies formed in Australia in the nineteenth century. His death in 1877 was certainly a hindrance to the further development of arguments for simplification of account keeping. Nevertheless, his ideas about professionalisation may have advanced the process of social closure in Australia.

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES ON WILD’S WRITING

Early Australian writers on accounting including Wild did not reference each others’ works nor indeed any other text. However, Wild may have been influenced by Edward Thomas Jones who wrote Jones’s English Systetn of Bookkeeping by Single and Double Entry . .. published in 1796. Wild perhaps learned from this text which, as the first English work on accounting to achieve international acclaim, was translated into various languages including German (Yamey, 1956, p.314). It may have also been available in Australia.16 Jones attacked the
15StaLement of Accounting Standards AAS1 “Profit and Loss Statements” [ASA and ICAA, 1973] was the first accounting standard to be issued by the Australian accounting bodies for mandatory application by members of these bodies in accounting periods ending on or after 1 December 1974.

16There survives at least two original copies of Jones’s English System of Bookkeeping by Single and Double Entry … in Australia. A copy of the sixteenth edition is held in a private archive in Melbourne, while a copy of the eighteenth edition is located at the State Library of New South Wales. Both of these editions were edited by Theodore Jones (son of Edward Thomas Jones) and were published in London during or around the 1860s.

Italian system of double entry as being “delusive, conducive to error, and capable ‘of being converted into a cloak, for the vilest statements that designing ingenuity can fabricate'” (Yamey, 1956, p.313). His volume of 1796 advocated a new method of bookkeeping by single entry along with changes in the organisation of books of account. In order to eliminate errors in posting from the journal to the ledger, Jones used the day book as the book of original entry and posted to the ledger from the day book. Like Jones, Wild sought to simplify the Italian system of double entry and did not approve of separate wastebooks and journals. However, Wild did not promote single entry bookkeeping.
In Australia, Wild’s book was preceded by Dimelow’s Practical Bookkeeping Made Easy. Like Wild, Dimelow was an Australian immigrant and taught bookkeeping in the Colony of Victoria. Dimelow’s book was written primarily for a commercial college environment while Wild’s book, although of similar orientation, was also intended to reduce the complexity of accounting for those in commerce. However, apart from a tenuous link relating to the use of “made easy” in the titles of their respective books, there is no evidence to suggest that Dimelow had any influence on the form and content of Wild’s book.

WILD’S INFLUENCE ON LATER DEVELOPMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING

Due to his death in 1877, Wild was not one of the pioneers of the organised Australian accounting profession although his ideas about professionalisation may have advanced the process of social closure in Australia. Although it is difficult to assess, his simplified system of double entry accounting appears to have been of limited commercial appeal as witnessed in the comments of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce which recommended the system with qualifications. However, it seems to have been suitable for the relatively small undertakings that Wild would have been familiar with in the Colony, and also for teaching purposes. Further, Wild’s system was possibly in need of active proponents to ensure its use in organisations and educational establishments following his death. Wild is perhaps best seen as an advocate of a local, organised accounting profession, and a proponent of the teaching of bookkeeping in State schools and the widespread use of double entry accounting in colonial Australia. It was not until August 1912 when the Victorian government announced that a commercial course would be introduced into the State’s new high schools and higher elementary schools [Blake, 1973, pp.464468; MurraySmith & Dare, 1987, p.93].17

CONCLUSION

As far as can be established, Bookkeeping by Double Entry Made Easy was the second book on accounting to be published in Australia. Wild’s book supported accounting development in various ways. He not only promoted the adoption of his simplified system of double entry but also called for the teaching of bookkeeping in public schools and advocated the formation of an organised accounting profession in Australia. Despite his concern for accounting development, Wild also appears to have been concerned with self promotion in publishing his book. Nevertheless, he sought to demonstrate how easily a knowledge of his system could be imparted.

Wild’s early advocacy of an organised profession was primarily based on his perception of the need for an accounting body to mandate the adoption of a simplified method of double entry accounting. In effect, he hinted at developments which occurred a century later in 1974 when the Australian professional accounting bodies began to regulate accounting by means of the issue of accounting standards for mandatory application by members. Wild’s death in 1877 meant that he did not witness the advent and development of an organised Australian accounting profession or the adoption of a commercial course in state schools. Notwithstanding, he may be regarded as an early public advocate of accounting development in colonial Australia.

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