The method of bookkeeping, deduced from clear principles

Abstract

James Dodson FRS devised a new way of teaching double-entry bookkeeping based on deductive logic, and he employed this method of scientific analysis to require recognition of assets and changes in their value in the absence of prior market transactions. This paper is designed to advance knowledge of accounting history by demonstrating diversity in the history of accounting thought and by revealing how it can be influenced by new ways of thinking gaining credence within the wider contemporary environment. Understanding of the history of double-entry bookkeeping is broadened and deepened by locating Dodson's treatise within the context of the scientific revolution; a time when complete obedience to the scriptures and classical authorities came under challenge from the systematic pursuit of knowledge based on reasoning, critical questioning, and the establishment of clear relationships between cause and effect.

Manzoni’s sixteenth-century ‘Quaderno Doppio’: The evolution of accounting education towards modern times

“…Edwards has published extensively on the history of accounting education in England after the sixteenth century, with a focus on English and Scottish manuals, and some of the teachers (Edwards, 2009(Edwards, , 2011a(Edwards, , 2011b(Edwards, , 2015Edwards et al, 2009).…”

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

“…Guidance may also be available from the many popular accounting manuals and treatises circulating at the time (cf. Stoner, 2011;Edwards, 2015), or by comparison with other contemporary archives.…”