Household accounting in Germany – Some statistical evidence and the development of new systems

Abstract

Following an introduction to household accounting in Germany, the paper presents the results of research projects on accounting practices in private households and reports on the subsequent development of a new household accounting system. The empirical research suggested that accounting records were kept on a regular basis in 27 per cent of German households. It was discovered that self‐developed bookkeeping systems were predominantly used for that purpose. The research findings on household accounting practices were used to inform the design of Das Neue Haushaltsbuch (The New Housekeeping Book). The article charts the development of a number of variants of this prototype including a bookkeeping system which permits parallel reporting in the Deutschmark and the Euro, a system designed for use by budgeting advice services, and a pocket‐money book for children.

An Evaluation of Household Accounting in Mauritius

“…Furthermore, it is also acknowledged in literature that geographic profiles have an impact on account keeping. For instance, the study by Piorkowsky (2000) reveals that keeping accounting records on aregular basis was more common in the NeueLaÈnder (new state) than inthe AlteLaÈnder (old state). We try to establish a similar relationship by arguing that family units in the urban region would be more disposed towards accounting practices than rural families, more specifically, urban households would adopt more advanced accounting practices.…”

Household Accounting – A Case of Subsidised Self-Employed Entrepreneurs in Slovenia

“…Adopting a micro-historical approach, a number of studies were carried out on personal account books or household books kept by individuals in the 18 th and 19 th centuries in Great Britain (MacDonald, 2010;McKinstry & Fletcher, 2002;Virtanen, 2009;Vollmers & Tyson, 2004;Carter, 1999) and in Australia (Carnegie & Walker, 2007a, 2007b). An extensive empirical research was conducted in 1993 in Germany (Piorkowsky, 2000) prior to the design of The New Household Book (Das neue Haushaltsbuch). This research showed that the accounting practices of households were highly individualized and based on the needs of an individual household and on the abilities and skills of its members.…”

“…Based on the existing research regarding household accounting (Carnegie & Walker, 2007a;Carnegie & Walker, 2007b;Jacobs & Kemp, 2002;Komori & Humphrey, 2000;Llewellyn & Walker, 2000;Northcott & Doolin, 2000;Pahl, 2000;Piorkowsky, 2000), we can determine its key components. These are (1) annual and interim budgeting;…”

Everyday Life of Accounting Disclosure � Exploring Home Accountants� Practices in Indonesia

“…In the U.K., for example, a survey done by the British Household Panel Survey studied households' financial management, and decision making (Dobbelsteen & Kooreman, 1997) did not consider the day-to-day accounting practices adopted in the homes. Besides, most studies in the area of home accounting were conducted at the beginning of the 2000s (see, for example, Komori & Humphrey, 2000;Northcott & Doolin, 2000;Piorkowsky, 2000;Froud et al, 2000;Pahl, 2000;Walker, 2007a and2007b;Jeacle, 2009;Komori, 2012;Rahardjo & Kamayanti, 2015;Ramlugun et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2017;Rant et al, 2017, Bernal et al, 2018.…”