Contributing to a more inclusive history, this study explores slavery and emancipation in the northeastern USA, using accounting ledgers maintained in New York’s mid-Hudson River valley during the first half of the nineteenth century. The social and economic circumstances faced by rural blacks prior to emancipation are examined using the accounting records maintained by Ann DeWitt Bevier, a wealthy widow who managed an estate staffed by both slave and free labor. Aspects of rural life after emancipation are revealed by the personal account books maintained by John Hasbrouck. These first-hand records document Hasbrouck’s employment and compensation after emancipation, and show how one African-American family adapted to freedom. This study facilitates a comparison of the practice of slavery in the North and the South, and illustrates how these differences were reflected in the type of information included in the accounting records.

For nine countries, we show that the components of accrual accounting earnings provide information incremental to that of current cash flows from operations in explaining next years cash flows from operations. We relate the usefulness of accounting earnings components for explaining near-term cash flows to certain country characteristicscommon/code-law jurisdiction, accrual index, shareholders rights, and uncertainty avoidance. We provide evidence that accounting accruals generated by shorter horizon, code-law regimes provide more incremental explanatory power for short-term predictions than those of longer horizon, common-law countries.

During the eighteenth century, the rural community of New Paltz, located in New York's mid-Hudson River valley, was served by two general stores, one run by the Hasbrouck family and the other by the Elting family. Using archival data, this study compares the operations of these two stores in the late 1790s. The results indicate that the two stores had similar operations but different customer bases. The accounting records illustrate the key role played by small town merchants in facilitating commerce, providing financing, and supporting the social structure of the community. The accounts also illuminate issues of power and control during the era, and provide evidence of the unequal treatment accorded to local residents based on gender. Using the experiences of ordinary people, the study expands our understanding of the role of accounting in fostering business life and competition in early America.

This paper examines the case of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, chartered in 1823, to gain perspective on how a 19th century corporation obtained financing, communicated with shareholders, and sparked technological innovations in the years before the ascendance of railroads in America. Helping to expand the accounting history literature on canals, we examine the annual reports issued during the firm's first decade of existence. Despite early problems, management continually cast an optimistic view of the company's future in these reports. And, after initially increasing the amount of financial and other information disclosed, the annual reports subsequently became less forthcoming and transparent.

The accounts of the Hasbrouck family help document how five generations adapted to economic and social change in New York's mid-Hudson River valley from the time of settlement in the New World through the Civil War era. The accounts of these farmers and merchants illuminate the role that accounting played during a period when the key information provided by the accounting system was the balance in an individual's account. Personified ledger accounts not only characterized the organizational structure in tight-knit communities, but were essential in facilitating trade during a period when the shortage of cash made asynchronous exchanges and the use of commodity money prevalent.