Post-Civil War Accounting Practices in Natchez, Mississippi

Abstract

This paper explores the accounting practices and cultural setting of a general merchandise store located in Natchez, Mississippi during the post-Civil War period in 1865. The store ledger records complete sales and payroll entries from January through December 1865. The facts concerning the store came from a “cash book” (referred to as the ledger) that recorded financial transactions both prior to and after the Civil War [Holland, 1837]. Our article asserts that, in spite of devastating economic conditions, merchandisers in general were able to continue as central figures in daily lives in the Natchez area.

Old ways and new means: Indigenous accountings during and beyond the pandemic

“…The distinction being that a commodity exchange is purely a commercial transaction whereas barter is embedded in social relations. Accounting studies have tended to adopt the definition and view of economists in relation to barter as a precursor to money (De Ste, 1955), a commodity exchange (Capozzoli and Teed, 2016) and a largely primitive practice (Stone, 1985). Early work on accounting and barter is primarily historic in nature and examines barter practices in ancient Greece and Rome (De Ste, 1955), Colonial America (Baxter, 1955), Colonial Canada (Spraakman and Wilkie, 2000), Colonial Australia (Carnegie, 2004;Parker, 1982) and 17 th century Europe (Lai, Leoni, and Stacchezzini, 2012).…”