Rational Evolution or Socially Constructed Counter-Myth? Cross-Cultural Perceptions of the Development of Chinese Commercial Accounting Up to C.1850 and Its Significance

The development of Chinese accounting and bookkeeping before 1850: insights from the Tŏng Tài Shēng business account books (1798–1850)

“…Matching' (Tiān Dì Hé) system and supposedly dating from the mid-18 th century enabled, it has been claimed, the production of the equivalent of Western DEB's profit and loss accounts and balance sheets (cf. Hoskin et al 2016a).…”

“…51 It is from such micro-foundations of how its institutions operated that a clearer picture can be built of the vitality of Chinese economic activity, of the role of its accounting practices, and the implications for debates over the causes of the 'Great Divergence' as well as over the significance of DEB in the history of the West (e.g. Brandt et al, 2014;Hoskin et al, 2016a).…”

“…Relatedly, even before the Great Divergence debate, China scholars have long developed the argument that, while perhaps not achieving all the features of DEB, Chinese businesses and their bookkeepers/accountants over several centuries developed an indigenous form of 'Chinese DEB' (which we here label CDEB) that was needed for the development of the increasingly lively commercial and financial sector in China (see Gardella, 1992;Goody, 1996;Aiken and Lu, 1998;Guo et al 2011;Ji & Lu, 2013). Hoskin et al (2016a) review the literature to date on this argument and, while not challenging the adequacy of China's accounting for assisting the economic development it achieved, set forward reasons for doubting that there was a CDEB that was essentially comparable to Western DEB (of the kind first explained in print by Pacioli in 1494 (e.g., Macve, 1996)). They thereby contribute to undermining the Weber / Sombart thesis about DEB.…”