Adoption of double entry bookeeping in Mexico and Spain

ADOPTION OF DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKKEEPING IN MExICO AND SPAIN ADOPCIÓN DE LA PARTIDA DOBLE EN MÉxICO Y ESPAñA Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo* Universidad de Bangor, Gales, Reino Unido, <[email protected]> J. Julián Hernández Borreguero Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, España, <[email protected]> J. Carles Maixé-Altés Universidad de La Coruña, La Coruña, España, <[email protected]> Miriam Núñez Torrado Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, España, <[email protected]> Abstract. There are conflicting and even contradictory claims as to when exactly double entry bookkeeping arrived to New Spain as well as its diffusion during the colonial era. Although we fail to present evidence from Mexican private enterprise, we address the apparent contradictions while putting forward the idea that the history of “modern” accounting practice in Latin America should be framed by developments in its former colonial power. Our conclusion is that the history of Latin American accounting should be wary of extrapolating everyday practice by interpreting bibliographic material and proceed to pay greater attention to the appropriation of accounting technology through the examination of surviving company documents as well as informal educational practices amongst organizations based in Spain and its colonies. Key words: digraphic method, accounting systems, knowledge transfer, viceroyalty. Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 * We are indebted to extensive and detailed comments on a previous draft by Esteban Hernández Esteve and also to those of Dick Fleischman, Gary Carnegie, Julian Barquín, Antonio Ibarra, Luis Jáuregui and anonymous referees. These were very helpful in identifying a number of sources as well to re-orient some sections. Elena Morán and Sarah Wale provided editorial assistance. We are also grateful to comments made by participants in the 3rd International Congress of the Asociación Mexicana de Historia Económica, Cuernavaca, September, 2007; the 6th Workshop of the Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas-Comisión de Historia de la Contabilidad, Valladolid, November, 2008; ii Encuentro de Historia Económica Regional de México, Guadalajara, November, 2009; the 6th Accounting History International Conference, Wellington, 2010. The usual caveats apply. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 164 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 165 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 Resumen. Las fuentes y la información disponible son contradictorias respecto al origen y difusión de la partida doble durante la colonización española y tras la independencia. Aunque no ofrecemos evidencia sobre actividades en el ámbito de la empresa priva da, este artículo se propone acotar dicho debate y obtener nuevas conclusiones al proponer que la historia de la contabilidad “moderna” en América Latina debería estar enmarcada por los acontecimientos en la metrópoli. Nuestra conclusión es que la historia de la contabilidad en América Latina debe proceder con el examen de fuentes y prácticas de las organizaciones y no llegar a conclusiones únicamente basadas en el examen de libros de texto. Palabras clave: método digráfico, sistemas contables, transferencia de conocimiento, virreinato. Fecha de recepción: mayo de 2011. Fecha de aceptación: febrero de 2012. introdUction The research in this article aims to enhance understanding of the use and diffusion of “modern” accounting techniques outside of Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries by outlining empirical considerations for the comparison of practices in the American colonies with those in Spain. The issues at hand are the timing and nature of the adoption and diffusion of double entry accounting in Latin America. This article does not provide a definitive answer to these questions. Instead, it offers a new empirical framework for the discussion whilst pointing towards a research agenda for an accounting history of Latin America, through the case of Mexico. The motivation for this project lies in the handful of contributions which explore accounting practices in former Spanish colonies in Latin America before and after their independence.1 The idea is that developments in Latin America should not be studied in isolation but as an educational process in which the transfer of knowledge is mapped while consi dering developments in accounting practice and accounting thought within the former colonial power. One potential starting point for this analysis is the so-called “Transfer of Accounting Technology” framework.2 According to this approach, accounting can be transferred from one country to another through a rather complex process that can be described by answering one or more of the following questions: a) what inhibiting factors were there 1 Avella, “Experiencia”, 2001; Domínguez, “Sistema”, 2009; Donoso, “Contabilidad”, 1996, and “Estudio”, 1997; Klein and TePaske, Ingresos, 1986-1988, vols. 1-2; Larruga, Memorias, 1794; Maniau, Compendio, 1793; Núñez, “Organizational”, 2002; TePaske, Hernández and Hernández, Real, 1976, and TePaske, Klein and Brown, Royal, 1982-1990. 2 Jeremy, International, 1991, pp. 3-5, and Carnegie and Parker, “Transfer”, 1996, p. 25. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 165 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 166 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez (technical and non-technical)?, b) what were the vehicles of transfer, the networks of access to the originating economy, the information goals of the acquirers, the methods of information collection, the speed of transfer of the technology?, c) what was the rate of adoption, the networks of distribution into the receptor economy, the hindrances faced by the carriers of the new technology?, d) was the incoming technology reshaped by economic conditions, social factors or conditions in the physical environment?, and e) were there any reverse flows of technology? This approach, however, perceives accounting as a technology that is neutral, unchanging and detached from social actors. Instead, we prefer to follow the lead of Tom Misa and Johann Schott in characterizing the international transfer of technology and knowhow as a process of “appropriation”.3 Whereas diffusion is a passive and directionless process driven by random collisions, appropriation suggests an active process in which ownership of a new technology is deliberately and forcefully established by its recipients. In other words, culture and context are relevant in researching accounting history in Latin America. However, during the course of our research and as will be shown below, it became evident that there was a need to reinterpret some of the key studies on accounting history in Spain because these studies often tackled the migration of double entry bookkeeping on the back of evidence emerging from accounting manuals and textbooks. The possibility of appropriation was neglected as these contributions failed to consider accounting as a social and institutional practice that has to be studied in the context in which it operates.4 Without this reassessment, therefore, current and future work documenting the history of accounting in Latin America risks building upon false premises. We will show there was continuity in the use of double entry in Spain and this is the basis for establishing its potential use by public and private enterprise in Latin American colonies. We support this claim through the examination of everyday practices rather than interpreting bibliographic material. The research focused on developments in Spain and then ascertains the likelihood of its adoption within the viceroyalty of New Spain, a terri- 3 Discussion of the “appropriation” of technology emerged quite recently as an alternative to the idea of its use or consumption. It implies a more active and creative role for the recipient. Early use was often intended to grant historical agency to members of marginalized social groups –for example in much of the work in Eglash et al., Appropriating, 2004. However it has also been used to describe international transfer of technology, for example Hård and Jamison, Intellectual, 1998. The concept recently gained currency within other areas including the history of computing as a way of conceptualizing the international transfer of computer technology from the USA to Europe, see Alberts, “Appropriating”, 2010. To the best of our knowledge the concept of “appropriation” has not been explicitly used in the history of accounting. 4 Miller, “Accounting”, 1994. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 166 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 167 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 tory whose location, extension and wealth made it a geo-strategic priority for both the Spanish crown and Spanish merchant houses. Most of this territory became a sovereign state after a process of independence that began in 1810. Since 1917 this republic has been formally known as Estados Unidos Mexicanos (henceforward Mexico).5 In light of a dearth of systematic studies on Mexican private enterprise accounting, our chief aim is to establish a framework upon which to assess these developments. In order to do so, we revise and offer new evidence of accounting practices in Spain during the colonial period. As a starting point, the second section summarizes established views regarding the introduction of accounting techniques within Spain before and in the early colonial era. This is followed by a survey and reinterpretation of contributions published in Mexico dealing with the arrival and diffusion of double entry bookkeeping in public bodies. The third section expands these studies by looking at the context and rationale behind the first attempt to introduce the double entry method in the public management of colonial institutions. It documents in detail the accounting guidelines introduced during Bourbonic reforms in order to identify its influence on colonial and postcolonial accounting practice in the Mexican public sector. This third section also offers indirect evidence that double entry was known within the Mexican private sector. The fourth section retakes the survey of contributions published in Mexico dealing with the arrival and diffusion of double entry bookkeeping in the Mexican private sector and looks at the possibilities of knowledge transfer amongst private companies across the Atlantic during the colonial era. However, during the course of the research it became evident that there was a need to revisit the consensus about the evolution of “modern” accounting in Spain and specifically the so called “stage of silence and apparent oblivion in accounting doctrine”,6 which oscillates between the end of the 17th century and the early 18th century. As its name suggests, it claims that double entry bookkeeping was “abandoned” or at least “overlooked” as far as the production of didactic texts was concerned whilst implying the practice was discontinued in private enterprise. Ascertaining the validity of this claim was important because, if true, it would imply that the actual transfer between Spain and Latin America took place either at the start or 5 Estados Unidos Mexicanos was first adopted in 1824, some three years after the end of the war of independence. However, it changed a number of times during the 19th century following changes in forms of government. It was reinstated with the passing of the Constitution of 1917 and has remained its official name ever since. However, in 2003 the then diputado (congressman) Felipe Calderón (who took office as president of the Republic in 2006) introduced but failed to win a motion to replace it with México in 2010. 6 Donoso, Contribución, 1996, and Hernández, “Problemática”, 1996. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 167 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 168 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez the end of the colonial era rather than during a dilated period. Evidence documented in this article emerges from surviving company records. It details the use of double entry bookkeeping in private organizations based in Madrid and Barcelona circa 1690s and 1800s. It suggests double entry was very much alive in the everyday practice of business organizations based in key geographies of economic activity in the Spanish mainland. This clarification is the basis for our empirical framework and thus for future analyses of the nature of appropriation of double entry bookkeeping in the Mexican private sector. Admittedly, we do not resolve the issue but we do provide clarification and a solid basis for future research. The last section offers a discussion and conclusions. Here it is claimed that the future of the study of accounting history in Latin America will emerge from a synthesis based on contrasting contemporary accounting practices (as reflected in surviving documents of public and private organizations), trade regulation, contemporary manuals and treaties as well as informal education practices (such as apprenticeships and visiting stays). developMent of AccoUnting prActice From pre-modern capitalism (circa 1200 to 1500) to the adoption and diffusion of double entry bookkeeping (circa 1500 to 1630) Gary Carnegie and Lúcia L. Rodrigues7 have noted how academic circles in Spain are one of the handful of non-English speaking spaces characterized by a vibrant research agenda in accounting history. This “maturity” implies that there is a considerable number of systematic studies documenting the overall development of Spanish accounting practices. In particular, Esteban Hernández Esteve and José González Ferrando8 offer comprehensive compilations on the evolution of accounting technology in both the public and private spheres (such as accounting for merchants, local and central treasury).9 Hernández Esteve proposes an interesting scheme to segment developments from the Middle Ages up to the 20th century. Its starting point is the period that immediately precedes the development of double entry bookkeeping (labelled “pre-modern state”, circa 1200 to 1500). Accounting documents act chiefly as an aide-memoir, due to the number of operations businessmen had to remember or consider.10 7 Carnegie and Rodriguez, “Exploring”, 2007, p. 453. 8 Ibid., and González, Panorama, 1996. 9 See also Carnegie and Parker, “Transfer”, 1996, p. 24. 10 See further Vlaemminck, Historias, 1961, and Hernández, “Cabildo”, 2003. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 168 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 169 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 Vlaemminck states that the single entry method replaced memorial and merchant books as it offered greater order, was much more systematic and methodical and incorporated a greater number of books as this method was responsible for introducing dedicated books to record debits and credits. Although interesting, this first stage is of little relevance to the overall purpose of our study given that the Spanish conquerors did not arrive in what was to become Latin America until 1492. A second stage for Hernández Esteve and González11 regarding the evolution of accounting technology in Spain coincides with Columbus’ voyages and the start of the process of constructing modern day Spain. They specifically point to the Reales Pragmáticas de (Royal decrees of) Cigales, 1549, and Madrid, 1552, enacted under Phillip II, which became the first ever-recorded regulation in Spain –and in the world– that the adoption of double entry bookkeeping.12 This regulation called “to have and to register entries in the Spanish language on a handbook (journal) and cash book (ledger) using debits and credits”. Interestingly, in the vernacular this method was identified as journal and ledger system (libro de caja con manual) rather than “double entry”.13 Early developments in the Spanish metropolis were almost immediately followed in New Spain. For one, Cordero y Bernal14 identifies an initial development taking place in 1519, namely the appointment of the first “accountant” in the Spanish colonies (and specifically in the government of the port of Veracruz) and in 1536 the introduction of an accounting book in the Casa de Moneda (Mexico City’s mint), the oldest in the new continent and which carried its entries with Roman numerals (the so called cuenta castellana). In a similar vein, Hernández Esteve15 notes that 150 copies of Bartolomé Salvador de Solorzano’s treaty on double entry accounting were taken by Diego Felipe de Aldino and Bartolomé Porras in 1591 to be sold in New Spain. However, this fact has been neglected by Mexican accounting historiography. See table 1, which summarizes contributions by Mexican authors and foreign academics studying Mexican accounting history published in professional and academic forums and dealing with the adoption of double entry bookkeeping in Mexico. Two of these studies date back to the colonial period while most of them date back to the 11 Hernández, “Problemática”, 1996, and González, Panorama, 1996. 12 These Reales Pragmáticas (Royal Laws) appeared in the Novísima recopilación de las leyes de España, mandada formar por el señor don Carlos IV (New Compilation of Spanish Laws, entrusted by King Carlos IV) of 1805. Specifically the 12th Law stated that “all banks and public lenders, and merchants, and other people, Spanish as well as foreign people, making business here as well as other countries”. 13 Hernández, Cabildo, 2003, p. 297. 14 Cordero y Bernal, Historia, 1997, p. 24. 15 Hernández, “Life”, 1989, p. 94. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 169 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON MExICAN ACCOUNTING HISTORY Type of Author (chronological) publication Sources used Observations Maniau, Compendio, 1793. Book Surviving business records Fonseca and Urrutia, Book Surviving government Historia, 1845-1853. records García, “Primeros”, 1940. Article Not specified García, “Evolución”, 1952. Article Surviving business records and prior research Gallo, “Partida”, 1957. Article Surviving business records Puente, “Desarrollo”, 1959. Dissertation Prior research Gertz, Origen, 1976. Book Not specified Summary of the Real Hacienda de Nueva España. History presented by the author in 1793 to the ministro secretario de Estado don Diego de Gardoquí. Historia general de la Real Hacienda en Nueva España (General History of Royal Holdings in New Spain) (six volumes). General commentary regarding accounting practice in the colonial period Inventory of accounting developments from the colonial period until mid-20th century. Textbook and manual dated 1804 (hacienda or private farm in Guanajuato). Emphasis in the colonial period. Compilation of the development of world accounting since early history Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 170 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. Systematic study of accounting practice in public enterprise during the colonial period. Study of accountancy in Mexico from the pre- Columbian era to the 20th century. Systematic study of accounting practice in public enterprise during the colonial period (two volumes). Possibly the most detailed and complete study on Mexican accounting history and the accounting profession in Mexico. Emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Documents early accounting regulation and government practices in New Spain (16th century). Analysis of a random collection of text books used in the 19th century. Analysis of double entry in 18th century public accounting. TePaske et al., Real, 1976. Book Surviving government records and prior research Alvarado et al., Book Prior research Contaduría, 1983. Klein and TePaske, Book Surviving government Ingresos, 1986-1988. records and prior research Rodríguez and Yáñez, Book Prior research and oral Escuela, 1995. histories Cordero y Bernal, Book Prior research and surviving Historia, 1997. government records Millán, Historia, 2000. Book Prior research Avella, “Experiencia”, 2001. Article Prior research and surviving government records Source: Digital catalogues of the largest public and private Mexican universities; authors’ own estimates. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (catálogo general and Biblioteca Nacional de México), Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Panamericana, Universidad Anáhuac, Universidad Anáhuac del Sur, Universidad Metropolitana, and Mexico City campus of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 171 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. 172 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez second half of the 20th century. A “bird’s eye view” seems to predominate in the latter contributions, that is, studies which offer a broad and rather general overview of the development of accounting methods in capitalist societies (with a bias towards developments in Western Europe and North America). A common thread of these contributions is their didactic nature and textbook roots. Most of these sources progressed using prior research rather than through the systematic study of archival sources. Lack of research based on surviving business and government records thus resulted in the perpetuation of myths, errors, omissions and misunderstandings particularly regarding the arrival, diffusion and actual use of double entry bookkeeping. The small quantity of systematic studies also reflects a lack of a research program around the history of accounting within Mexican educational institutions.16 Indeed, systematic studies on the diffusion of accounting history as a research agenda have failed to identify any critical mass of activity in Mexico17 while others point to the absence of any substantive effort for the whole of Latin America.18 It is possible that table 1 is not inclusive of all studies in the area. It is also possible (if not probable) that our survey failed to detect dissertations and other published and unpublished contributions that might be of relevance. However, no other study was identified within the digital catalogues of the aforementioned universities. Nevertheless there are citations within the publications in table 1 to other studies (mainly dissertations) but these have either not survived or not been catalogued by these universities. The research thus proceeded under the assumption that table 1 encompassed the totality of empirical studies by authors dealing with the adoption and diffusion of “modern” accounting techniques during the colonial and postcolonial eras. A recurrent theme within the studies summarized in table 1 is a debate regarding the adoption and first use of double entry bookkeeping in Mexico. On the one hand, within this debate there is some consensus as to developments in public accounting. For instance, Joaquín Maniau19 claims that the first attempt to introduce the “admirable method of double entry” bookkeeping dates to 1785. The aim was to ‘standardise different practices within colonial public accounting but it was abandoned given the confusion in its application toppled with the problems to eradicate long- 16 The same view was shared by participants at the recent 3rd International Congress of the Asociación Mexicana de Historia Económica, Cuernavaca, 2007. 17 Carnegie and Rodrigues, “Exploring”, 2007; Mattessich, “Accounting”, 2003, and Hundred, 2007. 18 Carmona, “Accounting”, 2004. 19 Maniau, Compendio, 1793, p. 7. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 172 17/08/2012 02:55:16 p.m. FIGURE 1. MONTHLY STATEMENT FOR NEW SPAIN’S GUNPOWDER MONOPOLY USING DOUBLE ENTRY BOOKKEEPING, 1787 Source: Agi , Audiencia de México, leg. 2217. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 179 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 180 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez After Gálvez’s death, his successor as minister of the Indies, Antonio Valdes, commissioned in July 1787 several reports regarding the convenience of using double entry bookkeeping for the financial control of Spanish public administration. The people responsible for elaborating these reports were government employees that had not been involved in the process of introducing accounting reforms in the colonial administration.52 The reports were unanimous in asking for a return to the single entry method, using similar arguments to those used by Baron Von Bielfeld in his Institutions politiques of 1762. Valdes disregarded the arguments put forward by Machado and other top government officials in support of the double entry method while, at the same time, taking steps so that the king would fail to learn about alternative views. As a result, the double entry bookkeeping method was abolished from Spanish public accounting on the 25th October 1797. Donoso53 claims that the rejection of double entry took place solely on the basis of political considerations. No evidence was found that double entry would cause technical or conceptual problems based upon which it could be deemed a lower quality method or considered an inferior accounting technique; but, at the same time, there was resistance to its adoption amongst civil servants in the colonies.54 For instance, the then viceroy of New Spain, conde de Revillagigedo, sent a letter to the Spanish crown defending the usefulness of “such an interesting development”.55 The double entry system was abolished without considering its effects on the management of the royal public offices of the Indies. The latter were ignored simply because financial statements and books of accounts took two to three years to arrive in Spain. The double entry method was abolished before any such statements or books had physically arrived on the Spanish mainland. Thus, the double entry method was abolished irrespective of any difficulties or shortcomings encountered during its introduction in colonial institutions. Moreover, it was abolished whilst disregarding the support for double entry from government employees in the colonies. 52 According to Donoso, “Estudio”, 1997, the individuals who supplied their view through vía reservada (private channels) were all resident at the metropolis but all had first hand knowledge of public administration in the American colonies. These people were: Josef García de León y Pizarro (ministro togado del Consejo de Indias, presidente y visitador de Quito), Manuel Ignacio Fernández (ministro de capa y espada del Tribunal de Cuentas, intendente de Buenos Aires), Joaquín Gutiérrez de Rubalcaba (intendiente de Marina del Departamento de Cádiz) and Pedro Carranza (oficial de la Contaduría General de Indias). 53 Donoso, “Nuevo”, 1999, and “Virrey”, 2001. 54 Avella, “Experiencia”, 2001. 55 Donoso, “Estudio”, 1997, p. 1083. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 180 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 181 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 ApropriAtion of doUBle entry Method in privAte enterprise Las Ordenanzas de Bilbao (The Bilbao Regulations) The most important regulation for private enterprise of that epoch in Spain and its colonies were the Ordenanzas de Bilbao (Bilbao Regulations).56 They were published in 1737 and effectively became the cornerstone of Spanish commercial law until the 19th century, when Spain unified its patchwork of codes and mercantile regulations.57 In chapter 9 (“Sobre los mercaderes y sus libros” or About Merchants and their Books) the regulator “Casa de Contratación de Bilbao” (Bilbao’s Board of Trade) explicitly stated that accounts could be kept by following either the single or double entry method, leaving the ultimate choice to the merchant’s own discretion. It is quite clear that both accounting methods were well known to members of the Board of Trade. Otherwise the Board of Trade would have been unable to point to them in such general terms. Yet the Regulations are mute on detailing the superiority of one or other accounting technique in any of the 723 articles. Instead, restoring and guaranteeing commercial good faith were recurrent topics. This suggests the latter were the priority for the Board of Trade in issuing its Regulations. In principle the Regulations had a standing as supplementary law across the Spanish dominions but it is hard to ascertain the degree to which they were enforced and implemented. Moreover and as noted above, they were lax regarding the specifics of accounting systems. Thus opening opportunities for locals to design fit for purpose systems, that is, for the appropriation of accounting techniques within private accounting systems of colonial enterprises. Along side opening opportunities for the appropriation of accounting methods, the passing of the Bilbao Regulations is also important as it broadly coincides with the publication of seminal contributions by Luis Luque y Leva58 and that by Sebastán Jócano.59 These books mark a revitalization and renewal in the production of Spanish accounting literature from 1770 onwards which, according to Hernández Esteve,60 together with the Regulations responds to a reinvigoration of economic activity in public and private organizations in the metropolis. 56 Hernández, “Merchants’”, 1996. 57 Petit, Compañía, 1980, and Espuny and Sarrión, “Ordenanzas”, 1989. 58 Luque, Arte, 1773. 59 Jócano, Disertación, 1791. 60 Hernández, “Renacimiento”, 2008. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 181 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 182 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez controversies in MexicAn historiogrAphy Evidence is yet to emerge regarding the impact of the Bilbao Regulations over private accounting practices in Latin American at the end of the colonial period. But as far as the historiography of the New Spain is concern there is little consensus and even contradiction (as summarised in table 1). For one, Alvarado and colleagues state that in the decades that followed the birth of the Mexican Republic (after its independence from Spain in 1821): “[accountants in public and private enterprise] continued using standards and accounting practices developed under the colonial administration, with the further difficulty that volatility in the economic environment and political situation originated in confusion in public and private enterprise, losing with it the pressures associated with day to day practice”.61 Alvarado62 also points to Manuel Payno’s report to his successor as minister of Finance (circa 1850). In this report Payno gives his opinion on the failed attempt to introduce double entry bookkeeping in the Mexican central government during his tenure.63 The interpretation of this evidence by Alvarado and colleagues is to suggest that there was wide acceptance of double entry bookkeeping within private enterprise in the mid-19th century “otherwise [Manuel] Payno would not have complained about the lack of skills within the public sector”.64 This view has some merit when considering that Rafael Cancino’s translation of Deplanque’s65 text was printed in Mexico City in 1844, that is, a year after its original publication in France. Cancino’s translation,66 together with that by Bartolomé Salvador de Solórzano,67 are the oldest indigenous accounting textbooks currently on record in electronic libraries in Mexico. Their existence is consistent with contemporary late-19th century writings by Fonseca and Urrutia68 who describe the organization of the Accounting Court (but are mute on its practices). More recently, Rigoberto Cordero y Bernal69 notes that in 1877 core teaching requirements for secondary school education in the state of Puebla included double entry accounting. 61 Ibid., p. 106. 62 Ibid., pp. 105-106. 63 Anonymous, Reflexiones, 1850. 64 Alvarado et al., Contaduría, 1983, p. 106. 65 Deplanque, Tenue, 1843. 66 Deplanque, Teneduría, 1844. 67 Salvador, Manual, 1852. 68 Fonseca and Urrutia, Historia, 1845-1853, vol. 1, p. 27. 69 Cordero y Bernal, Historia, 1997, p. 31. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 182 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 183 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 A late development of “modern” accounting in private Mexican enterprise is also expressed by Alfredo Chavero e Híjar, Esq., C. P. A.70 who claims that “university lectures” in the 1900s taught single entry bookkeeping and dates widespread use of double entry bookkeeping to the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Chavero’s view coincides with the publication of several “novel books on modern accounting” in Mexico City as identified in the compilation by Rosendo Millán:71 firstly Tratado de teneduría de libros en partida doble (A Treatise on Double Entry Bookkeeping) by Eduardo Jiménez de la Cuesta in 1886; secondly, the Teoría de la partida doble (The Theory of Double Entry Bookkeeping) by Antonio Orozco in 1894, and thirdly, Tratado complejo de teneduría de libros por partida doble (A Complex Treatise on Double Entry Bookkeeping) by Emilio A. Marín in 1903. Both Chavero and Millán date the start of professional accounting in Mexico to two key developments; firstly, the creation of a contador de comercio (business accounting degree) in 1905 and of its first graduate, Fernando Díez Barroso, in 1907. Díez Barroso was instrumental in changing the title of graduates to contador público titulado (certified public accountant). Secondly, the establishment in 1917 of the Asociación de Contadores Titulados (Association of Certified Accountants).72 However, any view on the matter of an early or late adoption of modern accounting in private Mexican enterprise is largely speculative in the absence of systematic studies of surviving company documents. One exception is the use of double entry bookkeeping from an hacienda which was part of the estate of count Pérez Gálvez in Guanajato. The hacienda was a large, autonomous, self-sustaining holding of private land typically associated with agriculture or mining. During the colonial period these grew to be the dominant productive unit and remained so until the 1930s. Some of these engaged in international trade mainly by exporting agricultural products such as natural dyes (e. g. cochineal) or precious metals (e. g. sil- 70 Alfredo Chavero e Híjar, “Historia de la contabilidad”, El Universal, Mexico, 7 June 1957. The abbreviation responds to developments dating back to 1917 when university graduates of accounting programs adopted the contador público titulado (C. P. T.) to distinguish themselves from those with “technical” degrees (contadores or bookkeepers). It also made reference to the American, certified public accountant or C. P. A. This form was replaced by contador público or C. P. (public accountant) in the 1950s following changes in the study plan at the National University (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UnAM ). See Alvarado et al., Contaduría, 1983; Bátiz- Lazo, “Business”, 2008; Gertz, Origen, 1976, and Rodríguez and Yáñez, Escuela, 1995. 71 Millán, Historia, 2000. 72 Gertz, Origen, 1976, pp. 138-139, and Rodríguez and Yáñez, Escuela, 1995. In 1923 the Asociación de Contadores Titulados (Mexican Association of Accountants) changed its name to Asociación de Contadores Públicos Titulados (Mexican Association of Certified Public Accountants) and in 1955 to Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos (Mexican Institute of Public Accountants), see Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos, in <http://portal.imcp.org.mx/content/ view/23/287/>. [Accessed: 18th July 2008.] Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 183 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 184 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez ver). The Pérez Gálvez’s hacienda is used by Gallo73 to claim that there was extensive use of double entry bookkeeping in the everyday trading of that hacienda in 1802 and that this should be seen as representative of accounting practice within private businesses of the time. He implicitly claims that double entry arrived some time before but fails to specify when or through which means. García Guidot74 also points to the same Pérez de Gálvez’s hacienda in Guanajuato as well as the “thriving Mexican mining sector” as examples of the widespread use of double entry bookkeeping “at the dawn of the 19th century”.75 García Guidot is thus in agreement with Gallo that there was widespread use of double entry in Mexico at the start of the 19th century. However, García Guidot76 dates the introduction of double entry bookkeeping to developments in public accounting and specifically the passing and adoption of the Instrucción práctica y provisional (Practice and Provisional Instruction) by the Contaduría General de Indias (General Accounting Office of the Indies) in 1774 and a real orden (Royal Decree) of November 26, 1787 by the Tribunal de Cuentas (Accounting Court). In summary one is led to believe that at least in the mid to late-19th century there was intense interest in double entry accounting. But it is hard to ascertain if that was the case before or when exactly this accounting technique first arrived in Mexico. Opinions amongst Mexican authors and academic contributions to Mexican accounting history regarding the introduction of double entry are diverse and most if not all disregard developments in the early colonial period. In light of a lack of archival research, the next section discusses developments in Spanish historiography and private accounting in order to ascertain possibilities for early adoption and indeed appropriation by Novo Spanish firms. the silence of Which lAMB? Hernández Esteve77 was the first to introduce the idea that the 1630s saw the start of a third stage in Spanish accounting history: for the next hundred years or so, there was a general fall in the production of accounting manuals and textbooks in the kingdom of Castille. Donoso78 documents in detail this period, a time when double entry as a method “disappears” from regulation and accounting thought in Spain. 73 Gallo, “Partida”, 1957, p. 51. 74 García, “Evolución”, 1952. 75 Ibid., p. 17. 76 Ibid., pp. 16-17. 77 Hernández, “Problemática”, 1996, p. 71. 78 Donoso, Contribución, 1996, p. 140. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 184 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 185 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 Other empirical studies have failed to clarify the extent to which double entry was indeed “forgotten”. For instance, there are reports claiming that contemporary bookkeepers in Spain and elsewhere in Europe were familiar with the intricacies of double entry but these same studies admitted that this method was not evenly distributed amongst bookkeepers.79 Moreover, to date and to the best of our knowledge, the potential effect that the “silence and apparent oblivion” hypothesis might have had over public or private sector accounting in Latin America has not been documented. Hence there is a need to determine the impact of this “deceleration” in the production of analytical developments around double entry accounting in Spain during the 18th century and specifically, in the absence of surviving business records, whether this apparent oblivion helps to explain the contradictions in modern Mexican historiography. Determining the nature and scope of this apparent “silence” requires ascertaining whether there is evidence of a void in terms of analytical developments as well as in terms of everyday practice. There is evidence to suggest that the dearth of an idiosyncratic production in Spanish accounting thought from the Mediterranean basin from circa 1630 to circa 1730 was substituted by (or remedied through the study of) foreign contributions. Some of these were read in the original whilst others were translated into Spanish. This fact emerges from evidence documented by Capelo and Álvarez-Dardet80 for Andalucian companies active in commerce across the Atlantic, as well as those by Manera81 for Mallorca, Franch82 for Valencia, and Vilar83 and Maixé-Altés84 for Catalonia. Spanish traders and merchants particularly favoured Genovese authors85 as well as Sicilian writers,86 and other Italian authors.87 There is also evidence of a French influence.88 But what of everyday practice? The record is obscure as to whether business organization, especially in the maritime trade activities, had simply an intellectual interest in developments in “modern” accounting or whether these handbooks, guides and treatises actually influenced daily 79 Hernández, “Cabildo”, 2003, p. 298, and Gomes, Rodrigues and Carnegie, “Accounting”, 2008, p. 1180. 80 Capelo and Álvarez-Dardet, “Reputación”, 2004. 81 Manera, Comerç, 1988. 82 Franch, Capital, 1989. 83 Vilar, Manual, 1962. 84 Maixé-Altés, “Mercantile”, 1994, and Comercio, 1994. 85 These included the likes of Peri, Negotiante, 1744, the Venetian edition of 1697 includes Mattia Cramero, Il segretario di banco, Venice, Hertz, 1682, and Targa, Reflexiones, 1753. 86 Amato, Microscopio, 1740, and Pugliesi, Prattica, 1678. 87 Such as Garatti, Saggio, 1711, and Casaregis, Discursus, 1740. 88 Ricard, Art, 1724, and Savary, Dictionnaire, 1723. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 185 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 186 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez practice. Indeed, accounts of “silence and oblivion” in Spain have failed to pin point the nature of this phenomenon in specific geographical domains and types of business activity. In order to readdress this, the next section provides empirical evidence emerging from companies established in Madrid and Catalonia which effectively challenges the “silence and apparent oblivion” hypothesis. Table 2 summarises the discussion that follows. This is based on surviving records of accounting systems within private businesses whose activities were related to domestic and international commerce as well as some activities related to financial intermediation during the 17th and 18th centuries. Admittedly, Catalonian and Madrid-based firms were unlikely to be fully involved in transatlantic trade.89 However, this evidence documents how double entry became rooted in the accounting system of wholesalers during the course of the second half of the 17th century. This evidence thus helps to support the idea that, during this period, different levels of complexity coexisted. It provides evidence not only of continuity but also of appropriation as accounting systems could be more or less sophisticated according to the users’ “needs” and the nature of their business.90 Of course this, in turn, opens up the question as to whether coexistence of accounting systems in Spain was also the case for organizations in New Spain. AccoUnting for doMestic And internAtionAl WholesAle trAde in the MediterrAneAn There are noticeable differences in bookkeeping practices within compañías de comercio or casas de comercio (merchant houses) based along the Spanish Mediterranean coastline at the end of the 1690s from the accounting practices these same companies used after the 1750s. These differences are greater in terms of analytical precision than accounting method. Below evidence is provided to support the idea that greater analytical precision resulted from a combination of overall economic growth and business practices of individual firms. Indeed during the 18th century the turnover of Catalonian businesses grew substantially while individual wholesalers aimed to diversify their investments. As the examples that follow suggest, double entry bookkeeping was well established. But it was the need to ascertain the profitability of different investments the element that instigated 89 Although Cadiz was formally the only port enabled to trade with the Americas until 1765 (see Martínez, Cataluña, 1981); documents evidence of Catalan trade with the colonies before 1765 through representatives and agents based in Cadiz. 90 Maixé-Altés, Comercio, 1994, p. 43. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 186 17/08/2012 02:55:17 p.m. 187 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 a more detailed set of accounts and sophisticated bookkeeping system. This suggests that the bookkeepers of 1699 or 1725 were as skilled and knowledgeable as those of the 1750s.91 Surviving records of two merchant houses helped to ascertain continuity in the use of double entry accounting. On the one hand, Duran & Llorens provided an insight into their accounting practices for the last decade of the 17th century and early years of the 18th century. On the other hand, similar records were available for Bensi & Merizano between 1724 and 1750.92 Together they provide a first approximation to the changes in accounting practice between those typical of the first half of the 18th century and those at the end of that century. 91 Ibid., p. 44, and Maixé-Altés, “Mercantile”, 1994. 92 Archivo Histórico Municipal de Barcelona (henceforth AhMB ), Fondo Comercial ( fc ), Duran-Llorens Co., legs. A. 195, 197, and Ignasi Llorens, legs. A. 199, 213. Archivo y Biblioteca de Can Mayans ( AcM ), Accounting books of Bensi & Merizano, 1724-1750. TABLE 2. SUMMARY OF MINICASE STUDIES ON THE USE OF DOUBLE ENTRY IN SPANISH PRIVATE FIRMS, 1680-1800 Distinctive features Period Case study of double entry accounting c. 1680-1750 c. 1750-1800 Source: Maixé-Altés, “Mercantile”, 1994; Comercio, 1994, and “Instrumentos”, 1995, and authors. Catalonian merchants Madridbased firms Duran & Llorens (Barcelona) Bensi & Merizano (Barcelona) Armengol Gener & Co. (Barcelona) Dutari Hermanos Gio Batista Rossi & Co. Quenau & Co. Banco de San Carlos Long narratives in entries. Focus on recording transactions with customers and correspondents. Greater structure and precision in the layout of the accounts. Greater precision in accruing final balances. Apparently archaic Apparently “modern” and structured Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 187 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 188 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez The accounting system at Duran & Llorens displayed all the technical characteristics of double entry bookkeeping as they kept the two basic books, libro diario or manual (the daily journal) and libro mayor (the ledger).93 The basic accounts were perfectly defined: for example, the cash account in the assets/debits side and the capital account in the liabilities/ credits side. The principal analytical difficulty of these accounting books related to the lack of definition of what 19th century authors called cuentas transitorias (auxiliary accounts). Here clearly defined accounts were only found for debits and credits relating to the profit and loss account. The use of other accounts, such as general expenses account, is inconsistent, while other “first class accounts” such as those to register cambios marítimos (bottomry contracts),94 bills of exchange and commissions, were nonexistent.95 Hence, this only offered a collection of accounts that lacked any aggregate analytical concepts on debits and credits. The only accounts that showed a certain degree of “maturity” in that regard were called customer current accounts and current accounts for correspondents. These were representative of accounting practices at that point in time because in their construction bookkeepers indistinctively mixed debits and credits. This particular organization of the accounting plan responded to the interweaving of two idiosyncratic elements of Catalonian accounting in the early 18th century.96 On the one hand, until the middle of the 18th century entries in ledgers by bookkeepers in Catalonian companies followed the entry style of the primary books. This involved a rather descriptive type of entry, which was closer to an explanation in the draft book or the journal than to the rather “analytical” nature of the charge and discharge system of the ledgers. There was thus no basic function, system, key or index to reconcile the whole system of accounts. On the other hand, the rather archaic, disaggregated and unconsolidated nature of Catalonian accounting systems also responded to the diversification of Catalonian investment portfolios. Businessmen opened a dedicated ac- 93 As mentioned above, we consider these practices as using double entry bookkeeping not because they employed the journal and ledger, but because the accounting system actively employed double references: every credit demanded the existence of one debit, see Amato, Microscopio, 1740, p. 333. 94 The cambios marítimos or préstamo a la gruesa ventura (bottomry contract) was a variant of the mutual contract. This contract involved lenders providing money (or any other consumable) to a ship owner (or his agent) with the sole purpose of maritime transportation (usually for trans- Atlantic voyages). The owner of the ship or his agent (be the captain or a sailor), mortgages and binds the ship (and sometimes the accruing freight) as security for the repayment of money advanced or lent. If he terminated his voyage successfully then the ship owner (or his agent) paid to the lender a pretium periculi (interest or premium). If the ship or the cargo failed to arrive to the port of destination, then the lender lost capital and interest. 95 See Martí, Tratado, 1819. 96 Maixé-Altés, Comercio, 1994, p. 44, and “Instrumentos”, 1995. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 188 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 195 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 The path of adoption and diffusion of this accounting technology in Spain provides a framework to begin ascertaining the likelihood of adoption given the handful of sources that survive from pre-independence Mexico. A brief summary of the historiography of double entry in Spain noted that some Spanish authors have pointed to an apparent crisis in Spanish history of double entry while pointing to a desertion in the use of this method between the 17th and 18th Centuries. However, through the analysis of surviving company records, evidence documented in this article shows how the technique had a much wider use in private companies than is otherwise claimed. This is very much the case for firms involved in large volume business or diversified investments. This result was in line with developments documented elsewhere and in particular around Anglo-American accounting. That evidence also led us to believe that, first, the apparent desertion (at least as far as the production of Spanish bibliographic material is concerned) must be understood in the context of the predicaments and general chaos that characterized the end of the Hapsburg dynasty. This period had a significant impact on accounting regulation and doctrinal production in Spain. The Hapsburg’s economic mismanagement was also instrumental in decimating the number of skilled practitioners by reducing opportunities for training new cadres of competent bookkeepers. At the same time, large numbers of bankruptcies and business failures with the consequent reduction of surviving records significantly lowered possibilities of studying this epoch systematically. Hence one must be careful not to equate a “slow down” in the diffusion of the double entry method in Spain with total desertion or even neglect of this accounting technology. Second, this article presents evidence which suggests that the use of double entry method had taken a hold in firms established in the more industrious geographies of Spain by the 1690s. There is no reason to believe that firms outside of the colonial powerhouse and particularly those based in New Spain and involved in foreign trade or investments in Asia and the Caribbean, were excluded from learning about the double entry method. However, it is likely that Novo Spanish firms adopted European accounting technologies with some delay and chiefly through interaction with peers in business and commerce as well as migration of skilled employees and entrepreneurs. This is because “on-the-job training” rather than formal education was the chief method for knowledge transfer. But as noted above, the crisis at the end of the Hapsburg Empire could have disrupted opportunities for knowledge transfer to the colonies. One is thus led to believe that this accounting technique was first adopted in New Spain as early as the 17th century. This claim would position its adoption considerably earlier than that suggested in most Mexican contributions. But since Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 195 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 196 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez were unable to provide evidence in this regard, the validity of our claim remains hypothetical and subject to future empirical research. Third, with regards to the public sector, it could be said that public accounting systems may have had a lesser degree of complexity when compared with the requirements of private accounting systems, but in fact the accounting systems of public and private bodies were very different during the early modern capitalist era. It would be erroneous to think they are equivalent mainly because the analytical criteria of each type of corporate body were very different. For instance, evidence has been provided of accounting systems in private firms which specifically associated with a large number of accounts and accounting books whereas in others there was no variety and they followed more traditional practices. Key concepts for private firms include capital, profits and the role of partners, whereas these same concepts are non-existent for public administration. Nonetheless, our interest in highlighting the comparison of public and private bodies is that public accounting systems introduced criteria that went beyond the charge and discharge method much earlier than anticipated by Mexican historiography. Admittedly this effort seemed more successful in Spain than in its colony. Indeed, the numerous forms of Spanish institutions and administrations (municipalities, colonial, etc.) first introduced the double entry method during the second half of the 16th century. At the beginning of the 17th century the Spanish Treasury and other public administrative bodies developed double entry accounting systems, while it was in the middle of the 18th century that the Bourbon introduced double entry bookkeeping to colonial public administration (although these efforts were not always successful). Specifically, top officials of the viceroyalty of New Spain (namely administrators at the Accounting Court and General Accounting Office of the Indies) were keener to adopt double entry bookkeeping than top officials in colonial administrative bodies. However, it seems that the progressive deterioration of political and economic control of the dominions at the end of the 18th century together with non-standard- ized rules (i. e. no concept of generally accepted accounting principles) and the processes leading to independence, generated a break up in New Spanish-Mexican accounting practices which indigenous firms most have found difficult to solve in the short term. The lack of clarity regarding accounting practice at the end of the colonial period and during the early independent Mexico, probably resulted in an informal setting where some individuals employed double entry bookkeeping while others in similar organizations stuck to the charge and discharge method. This view helps to explain why our survey of Mexican sources apparently found contradicting claims based on surviving records of several haciendas and mines at the beginning of the 19th century. The Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 196 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 197 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 volatile economic and political climate that followed included mass outward migration of Spanish businessmen and capital, and the separation of Central American states as well as armed conflict with France and the USA, the latter resulting in the loss of over half the territory at independence from Spain. Moreover, industrialization in Europe meant a loss of many traditional export markets for natural dyes. All this had a profound effect on any attempt by the former colony to regain continuity in accounting practice. In fact and as above mentioned, it was not until the second half of the 19th century when a more stable economic and political environment and a reintroduction of European investments and some migration, when the modernization of the economic system entailed the gradual introduction of double entry bookkeeping in Mexico. The introduction and adoption of double entry bookkeeping in Mexico was thus a consequence of knowledge transfer from its former colonial ruler as much as a consequence of institutional “normalization”. Lastly, some caveats. First, our research documented evidence from Madrid-based firms involved in domestic and foreign trade and financial services, together with Catalonian firms involved in wholesale international trade and investment, suggesting that double entry bookkeeping was common practice in the accounting of private firms in the Spanish mainland at the end of the 17th century and during the 18th century. This evidence contests the current framework for the historical analysis of accounting technology in Spain and in particular, the soundness of the so called “stage of silence and apparent oblivion” hypothesis.117 It must be acknowledged that Madrid-based and even more so Catalonian merchant houses were, in general, excluded from trade with the American colonies in the early colonial period. However, there is enough evidence to suggest the possibility of an early adoption of this technique in Latin America and that this could have happened much earlier than anticipated by Mexican historiography. Second, this article is not making the claim that there was generalized use of double entry in Spain during the 17th and 18th centuries. The absence of widely accepted accounting principles together with the slowdown in intellectual and economic environments at the end of the Habsburg Monarchy in Spain118 resulted in many bookkeepers devising accounting systems that best fitted the purpose of their organization. The accounting practices in firms of different sizes and degrees of diversification discussed above, suggest that the nature of the accounting system and the prevalence of rudimentary methods was strongly influenced by the business 117 As stated in Donoso, Contribución, 1996, and Hernández, “Problemática”, 1996. 118 Donoso, “Contabilidad”, 1996. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 197 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 198 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez model and the level of complexity in their operations, complexity that arose from a combination of the type of market they were involved with and the volume of their trade. Our evidence thus suggests that double entry bookkeeping was most likely to be found amongst large or diversified organizations. These were the types of firms that usually engaged in trade with others elsewhere in Europe and the American dominions, thus opening up the possibility for technological transfer to private firms established in the colonies. Of course, the use (even if widespread) of this accounting technique in Spain is not in itself sufficient to make a similar claim for its colony. There is a possibility for other accounting techniques to have had been more suitable in New Spain. As a result, this article offers a robust, empirically-based, new framework to assess future evidence regarding accounting practice in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America during the Spanish colonial era. soUrces consUlted Archives Agi Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla, Seville, Spain. AhBe Archivo Histórico del Banco de España, Madrid, Spain. Secretaría: Dutari Hermanos, libros 18560, 18637, 18638, 18616; Gio Batista Rossi, libros 18558, 18559, 278P, 235P, 272; Rossi, Gosse & Co., libro 322; Casa Quenau, libros 272, 423, 453; Banco de San Carlos, libros, 240, 246, 251. AhpB Arxiu Històric de Protocols de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. AhMB Archivo Histórico de la Ciudad de Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain. AcM Archivo y Biblioteca de Can Mayans, Vilassar de Dalt, Barcelona, Spain. Private records of the landed estate of the Bensi-Olmera’s family. Ad Archivio Storico dei Durazzo, marchesi di Gabiano, Genoa, Italy. Private archive. Hemerography El Universal, Mexico City. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 198 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 199 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 Bibliography Alberts, Gerard, “Appropriating America: Americanization in the History of European Computing”, Annals of the History of Computing, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, vol. 32, num. 2, April-June, 2010, pp. 4-7. AlvArAdo MArtínez y escoBAr, loUrdes et al., La contaduría pública: estudio de su génesis y de su evolución hasta nuestros días, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1983. AMAto ed Urso, giUseppe cArlo , Il microscopio de computisti, Palermo, A. Felicella, 1740. Anes, gonzAlo , Historia de España, Miguel Artola (ed.), vol. 4, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1994. AnonyMoUs , Reflexiones sobre el acuerdo del Senado, relativo a la adopción del sistema de partida doble, para las cuentas del erario público, México, Imprenta de José Mariano Lara, 1850. ArcilA fAríAs, edUArdo , El siglo ilustrado en América: reformas económicas del siglo xVIII en Nueva España, Caracas, Ediciones del Ministerio de Educación, 1995. AvellA AlAMinos, isABel , “La experiencia de la partida doble en la Real Hacienda en la Nueva España (1784-1789)” in ernest sánchez sAntiró, lUis JáUregUi and Antonio iBArrA (eds.), Finanzas y política en el mundo iberoamericano: del antiguo régimen a las naciones independientes, 1754-1850, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2001, pp. 115-138. BAños sánchez-MAtAMoros et al., “Govern (mentality) and Accounting: the Influence of Different Enlightenment Discourses in Two Spanish Cases (1761-1777)”, Abacus. A Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business Studies, University of Sidney, vol. 41, num. 2, June, 2005, pp. 181-210. Bátiz-lAzo, BernArdo, “Business Elite and the Diffusion of US-Style Business Education in Mexico (1955-2005)”, Research Papers in Economics, 2008, Leicester, <http:// ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/7473.html>. [Accessed: 26 Nov., 2011.] Bici, AntonellA , “Modelli di contabilità nella seconda metà del Seicento” in siMo - nettA cAvAciocchi (a cura di), L’impresa industria commercio banca (secc. xIII-xVIII ), Firenze, Le Monnier, 1991, pp. 393-397 (Serie ii , Atti della Settimane di Studio e Altri Convegni, 22). cApelo BernAl, MAríA dolores and concepción álvArez-dArdet espeJo , “La reputación de los gestores y su elección contable: el caso del almacén central de Agüera (1822-1830)”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. xxxiii , num. 121, April-June, 2004, pp. 281-312. cArMonA, sAlvAdor, “Accounting History Research and its Diffusion in an International Context”, Accounting History, Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 9, num. 3, November, 2004, pp. 7-23. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 199 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 200 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez cArnegie, gAry d. and lúciA l. rodrigUes, “Exploring the Dimensions of the International Accounting History Community”, Accounting History, Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 12, num. 4, November, 2007, pp. 441-464. cArnegie, gAry d. and roBert h . pArker, “The Transfer of Accounting Technology to the Southern Hemisphere: The Case of William Butler Yaldwyn”, Accounting, Business and Financial History, Routledge, vol. 6, num. 1, 1996, pp. 23-49. cAsAregis, JosephUs lAUrentiUs MAriA de , Discursus legales de commercio, Venecia, ex Typographia Balleoniana, 1740, 3 vols. cordero y BernAl, rigoBerto , Historia de la contaduría en Puebla, Puebla, Centro de Estudios Históricos de Puebla, 1997. deplAnQUe, lUis , La tenue des livres en partie simple et en partie double..., Paris, Dutertre, 1843. , La teneduría de libros en partida simple y doble, puesta al alcance de todas las inteligencias para ser aprendida sin maestro, trad. Rafael Cancino, México, Imprenta de Vicente García Torres, 1844. doMíngUez, MAnUelA , “El sistema de intendencias y su influencia en la estructura organizativa y recaudación de la hacienda: el caso del virreinato del Río de la Plata (1776-1782)”, xiii Jornadas Hispano Lusas de Gestión Científica, Baeza, 2009. donoso, AlBerto , “La contabilidad virreinal americana, análisis de una experiencia: la aplicación del método de la partida doble en las Reales Cajas de Indias (1784- 1787)”, doctoral dissertation, Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 1996. , “Estudio histórico de un intento de reforma en la contabilidad pública: la aplicación del método de la partida doble en las Cajas Reales de Indias (1784- 1787)”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. xxvii , num. 93, October-December, 1997, pp. 1045-1089. , “Nuevo método de cuenta y razón para la Real Hacienda en las Indias. La instrucción práctica y provisional en forma de advertencias comentada (27 de abril de 1784)”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. xxviii , num. 101, July- September, 1999, pp. 817-862. , “El virrey de Lima, caballero de Croix, defensor de la partida doble en el siglo xviii ”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. xxx , num. 107, October- December, 2001, pp. 165-206. donoso, rAfAel , Una contribución a la historia de la contabilidad: análisis de las prácticas contables desarrolladas por la tesorería de la Casa de la Contratación de las Indias de Sevilla (1503-1717), Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 1996. edWArds, John r . and trevor Boyns, “The Construction of Cost Accounting Systems in Britain to 1900: the Case of the Coal, Iron, and Steel Industries”, Business History, Routledge, vol. 39, num. 3, July, 1997, pp. 1-29. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 200 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 201 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 , “The Development of Cost and Management Accounting in Britain” in christopher s. chApMAn, Anthony g. hopWood and MichAel d. shield (eds.), Handbook of Management Accounting Research, vol. 2, Amsterdam & London, Elsevier Science, 2007, pp. 969-1034. eglAsh, ron et al. (eds.), Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2004. eJército MexicAno , Reglamento de teneduría de libros por partida doble: para la contabilidad de los cuerpos del ejército, á que deberán sujetarse los gefes de ellos y los pagadores, México, Imprenta del Gobierno-Palacio Nacional, 1868. espUny, MA. Jesús and José sArrión, “ Las ordenanzas de 1766 de la Junta de Comercio de Barcelona. Datos para su reconstrucción”, Actas del iv Congreso de la Asociación Española de Historia Económica, Alicante, 1989, pp. 43-59. fleischMAn, richArd k . and lee d. pArker, “British Entrepreneurs and pre-Indus- trial Revolution Evidence of Cost-management”, The Accounting Review, vol. 66, num. 2, April, 1991, pp. 361-375. fonsecA, fABián de and cArlos l. de UrrUtiA, Historia general de la Real Hacienda en Nueva España, México, Imp. Vicente G. Torres, 1845-1853, 6 vols. frAnch BenAvent, ricArdo , El capital comercial valenciano en el siglo xVIII , Valencia, Universitat de Valencia, 1989. gAllo, JoAQUín , “La partida doble en México”, Contabilidad-Administración, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, vol. 5, December, 1957, pp. 51-59. gArAtti, frAncesco , Saggio di scrittura doppia de mercantie..., Venice, P. D’Orlandi, 1711. gArcíA gUidot, silvAno , “Primeros pasos de la contabilidad en la Nueva España”, Banca y Comercio, January, 1940, pp. 1-9. , “Evolución de la contabilidad y de la profesión de contador público en México”, Revista de la Escuela de Estudios Contables, Escuela de Estudios Contables, vol. 4, num. 13, 1952, pp. 13-23. gertz, federico, Origen y evolución de la contabilidad: ensayo histórico, México, Trillas, 1976. goMes, delfinA, lúciA l. rodrigUes and gAry cArnegie, “Accounting Change in Central Government: the Adoption of Double Entry Bookkeeping at the Portuguese Royal Treasury (1761)”, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 21, num. 8, 2008, pp. 1144-1184. gonzález ferrAndo, José M., “ El sevillano Luis Luque de Leyva, reintroductor de la partida doble en la bibliografía española”, Cuadernos de Investigación Contable, vol. 4, nums. 1-2, 1992, pp. 81-148. , Panorama histórico de las fuentes de la historia de la contabilidad en España, siglos xII al xVIII , Madrid, Comisión de Estudio de Historia de la Contabilidad- Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración, 1996. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 201 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 202 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez hård, MikAel and AndreW JAMison (eds.), The Intellectual Appropriation of Technology: Discourses on Modernity, 1900-1939, Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1998. hernández BorregUero, J. JUlián , “El Cabildo Catedral de Sevilla: organización y sistema contable (1625-1650)”, doctoral dissertation, Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 2003. hernández esteve, esteBAn , “La historia de la contabilidad y los primeros tiempos de la partida doble en España”, Revista Técnica Económica, vol. 11, num. 1, 1982, pp. 103-122. , Establecimiento de la partida doble en las cuentas centrales de la Real Hacienda de Castilla (1592). Pedro Luis de Torregrosa, primer contador del libro de caja, Madrid, Banco de España, 1986. , “Comentario histórico contable sobre los libros de cuentas de Diego Ordoñes, del 29 de noviembre al 28 de diciembre de 1518”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. 18, num. 55, 1988, pp. 223-276. , “The Life of Bartolomé Salvador de Solórzano: Some Further Evidence”, The Accounting Historians Journal, Academy of Accounting Historians, vol. 16, num. 1, 1989, pp. 87-99. , “Merchants’ organizations and accounting regulation in 18th century Spain. The ordinances of the Tribunal of Commerce of Bilbao”, Accounting, Business and Financial History, Routledge, vol. 6, num. 3, 1996, pp. 277-299. , “Problemática general de una historia de la contabilidad en España. Revisión genérica de las modernas corrientes epistemológicas y metodológicas, y cuestiones específicas” in AA.vv. , En torno a la elaboración de una historia de la contabilidad en España, Madrid, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas/Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Titulados Mercantiles y Empresariales de Madrid, 1996, pp. 45-114. , “Reflexiones sobre la naturaleza y los orígenes de la contabilidad por partida doble”, Pecunia. Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de León, núm. 1, 2005, pp. 93-124. , “Renacimiento del pensamiento contable español en el siglo xviii ”, vi Encuentro de Trabajo sobre Historia de la Contabilidad, Valladolid, 5-7 November, 2008. hopWood, Anthony g. and peter Miller , Accounting as a Social and Institutional Practice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. hUMBoldt, AleJAndro von , Ensayo político sobre el reino de Nueva España. Estudio preliminar, revisión del texto, cotejos, notas y anexos de Juan A. Ortega y Medina, México, Porrúa, 1822. JereMy, dAvid J. (ed.), International Technology Transfer: Europe, Japan and the USA 1700- 1914, Aldershot, Edward Elgar, 1991. Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 202 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 203 Am. Lat. Hist. Econ., año 19, núm. 3, septiembre-diciembre, 2012, pp. 164-205 JócAno, seBAstián , Disertación crítica y apologética del arte de llevar cuenta y razón contra la opinión del barón de Bielfeld, acerca del arte en general y del método llamado de partidas dobles en particular, Madrid, Imprenta de Jerónimo Ortega y Herederos de Ibarra, 1791. klein, herBert s. and John J . tepAske, Ingresos y egresos de la Real Hacienda de Nueva España, México, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1986, vol. 1. , Ingresos y egresos de la Real Hacienda de Nueva España, vol. 2, México, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1988. lArrUgA BonetA, eUgenio, Memorias políticas y económicas sobre los frutos, comercio, fábricas y minas de España, reprinted in 1995 by the Institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza, Spain, 1794. lUQUe y leyvA, lUis, Arte de partida doble, dividido en tres partes, Cádiz, Imprenta de Luque y Leyva, 1773. MAixé-Altés, J. cArles , Comercio y banca en la Cataluña del siglo xVIII , La Coruña, Universidad de La Coruña, 1994. , “Mercantile and Banking Practices in Eighteenth-Century Catalonia” in pAolA sUBAcchi (ed.), Recent Doctoral Research in Economic History, Milan, Bocconi, 1994, pp. 81-92. , “Los instrumentos jurídicos de la circulación mercantil y la actividad económica catalana en el siglo xviii ” in cArlos MArtínez shAW (ed.), El derecho y el mar en la España moderna, Granada, Biblioteca Chronica Nova de Estudios Históricos/ Universidad de Granada, 1995, pp. 357-382. MAnerA, cArles , Comerç i capital mercantil a Mallorca 1720-1800, Palma de Mallorca, Consell Insular, 1988. MAniAU, JoAQUín , Compendio de la historia de la Real Hacienda de Nueva España que presentó su autor en 1793 al ministro secretario de estado don Diego de Gardoquí, Mexico, Secretaría de Industria y Comercio, 1793. MArtí, Antonio, Tratado teórico-práctico de llevar los libros por partida doble… dalo á luz su discípulo don Antonio Alá..., Barcelona, Imprenta de la viuda de Agustín Roca, 1819. MArtínez chUriAQUe, J. ignAcio , “La reforma de la contaduría municipal de Sevilla y la introducción del Libro de Caja (1567). Una aportación al estudio de la modernización de la contabilidad pública en España”, Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad, Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas, vol. xviii , num. 56, 1988, pp. 335-349. MArtínez rUiz, J. ignAcio, Finanzas municipales y crédito público en la España moderna. La Hacienda de la ciudad de Sevilla. 1528-1768, Seville, Ayuntamiento de Sevilla, 1992. MArtínez shAW, cArlos , Cataluña en la carrera de Indias, 1680-1756, Barcelona, Crítica, 1981. MAttessich, richArd , “Accounting Research and Researchers of the Nineteenth Century and the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: an International Survey of Au- Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 203 17/08/2012 02:55:18 p.m. 204 B. Bátiz-Lazo, J. J. Hernández, J. C. Maixé-Altés y M. Núñez thors, Ideas and Publications”, Accounting, Business and Financial History, Routledge, vol. 13, num. 2, July, 2003, pp. 127-170. , Two Hundred Years of Accounting Research, London, Routledge, 2007. Millán torres, rosendo (comp.), Historia antigua de la teneduría de libros en México basada en libros de texto, México, Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos, 2000. Miller, peter , “Accounting as a Social and Institutional Practice: an Introduction” in Anthony g. hopWood and peter Miller (comps.), Accounting as a Social and Institutional Practice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. , trevor hopper and richArd lAUghlin, “The New Accounting History: an Introduction”, Accounting Organizations and Society, vol. 16, nums. 5-6, 1991, pp. 395-403. nAvArro gArcíA, lUis , Hispanoamérica en el siglo xVIII , Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 1991. , Las reformas borbónicas en América. El plan de Intendencias y su aplicación, Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 1994. núñez torrAdo, MiriAM , “Organizational Change and Accounting: the Gunpowder Monopoly in New Spain, 1757-87”, Accounting, Business and Financial History, Routledge, vol. 12, num. 2, July, 2002, pp. 275-315. Ordenanzas de la ilustre universidad y casa de contratación de la M. N. y M. L., Villa de Bilbao (insertos reales privilegios), aprobadas y confirmadas por el rey nuestro señor D. Phelipe Quinto, año 1735, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Oficina de José Rubio, 1813. peri, doMenico , Il negotiante, Venecia, Gio Giacomo Hertz, 1744. petit, cArlos, La compañía mercantil bajo el régimen de las Ordenanzas del Consulado de Bilbao, 1737-1829, Seville, Universidad de Sevilla, 1980. pUente rUiz, lUis de lA , “Desarrollo histórico de la contabilidad en México”, tesis profesional, Monterrey, Escuela de Contabilidad, Economía y Administración- Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, 1959. pUgliesi sBerniA, onofrio , Prattica economica numerale... per tenere regolarmente i libri de conti..., Palermo, Angelo Felicella, 1678 (new editions 1745 and 1770). “Recopilación de las leyes de los Reinos de las Indias mandadas escribir y publicar por la majestad católica del rey don Carlos II” in JUlián pAredes , Madrid, Cultura Hispánica, 1973 [reproduction in facsimile, 1681]. ricArd, sAMUel , L’art de bien tenir les livres de comptes en partie double à l’italienne, Amsterdam, Paul Marret, 1724. rivArolA pAoli, JUAn B ., La contabilidad colonial y las cajas reales de Hacienda, Asunción, Intercontinental Editora, 2008. rodrígUez álvArez, MA. de los ángeles and e. yáñez MorAles (coords.), Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración, 1845-1995, México, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 1995. roover, rAyMond de, “Aux origines d’une technique intellectuelle: la formation et l’expansion de la comptabilité à partie double”, Annales d’Histoire Économique et Revista ALHE 39 (X).indd 204 17/08/2012 02:55:19 p.m.