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Capitalist accounting in sixteenth century Holland

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Purpose – Thepurpose of thispaper is toexaminesixteenth century Netherlands business organisation
and accounting practices, then the most advanced in Western Europe, to test Sombart’s theory that
scientific double entry bookkeeping was an essential prerequisite for the development of modern
capitalism and the emergence of the public corporation during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries. Rather than being a development of Paciolian bookkeeping, double-entry bookkeeping in
sixteenth century Netherlands was grounded in northern German (Hanseatic) business practices.
Design/methodology/approach – Sixteenth century Dutch business records and Dutch and
German bookkeeping texts are used to establish that north German Hanseatic commercial practices
exercised the greatest influence on The Netherlands’ bookkeeping practices immediately prior to the
development of the capitalistic commercial enterprise in the first years of the seventeenth century.
Findings – Contrary to Sombart’s thesis, scientific double-entry bookkeeping was rarely used in
sixteenth century Netherlands, which became Europe’s most sophisticated commercial region during
the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century. Instead, extant commercial archives and the
numerous sixteenth century accounting texts suggest that Hanseatic business practices and agents’
(factors’) bookkeeping were the dominant influence on northern Netherlands’ business practices at this
time. The organisation and administrative practices of Netherlands’ businesses prior to the
seventeenth century, especially their decentralised structure and lack of a common capital, were
founded on Hanseatic practices that were considerably different to the best Italian practice of the time.
Research limitations/implications – North German influences on Dutch accounting and business
practices have significant implications for social theories of the development of capitalism, notably
that of Bryer, that assume the use of a scientific (capitalistic) form of double-entry bookkeeping was
essential to the development of capitalism from the seventeenth century. This is tested in a subsequent
paper which examines the accounting practices of the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde
Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) which was founded in 1602 at the very cusp of modern capitalism.
The research presented here was partially constrained by the scarcity of transcriptions of original
sixteenth century bookkeeping records.
Originality/value – The vigorous debate in the accounting history literature about the dependence
of modern capitalism upon a scientific (capitalistic) form of double entry bookkeeping prompted by
Sombart has been mainly concerned with England. This paper introduces into the debate material
which documents the accounting and business practices of the most commercially advanced region of
Europe in the late sixteenth century and the influence of Dutch bookkeeping texts.

Keywords Sombart, Hanseatic League, Scientific double entry bookkeeping, Capitalist systems,
The Netherlands

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Emerald Group., 2011

Deskripsi Fisik

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 24 No. 5, 2011 pp. 560-586

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

AKUNTANSI

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

Asmawati/Syahrial

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