The article presents a reply to a comment on the use of historical records in accounting education. In no way, the author expects students in elementary courses to dissect the technological intricacies of medieval accounts. That level of approach is, of course, reserved for the graduate courses in accounting history where one customarily deals with these technical matters. It has been the author's experience that bright undergraduates very quickly gain an appreciation for the antiquity of some of the basic accounting ideas, and also derive intellectual excitement from the notion that accounting reports often give clues to some of the characteristics of the society or social unit which produced them. This historical approach, even at the beginning of accounting studies, often provides a lingering perspective which helps students "put it all together." It would be equally interesting for students to have available accounting reports drawn from the American Colonial and post-revolutionary periods.

The article discusses the use of medieval statements for teaching accounting. This writer has found that even at the introductory accounting level, it can be very worthwhile and intellectually stimulating to devote some time to a consideration of the historical roots of accounting. Students seem to benefit from observing that accounting is not only a vital tool of control and communication in modern industrial society, but that it plays a role in any society. One idea that beginning students seem to find particularly intriguing is the realization that the development of accounting technology is intimately inter-related with the evolution of other socio-economic institutions. One idea that beginning students seem to find particularly intriguing is the realization that the development of accounting technology is intimately inter-related with the evolution of other socio-economic institutions. Further, they appear glad to be made aware that the contents of financial statements are interwoven with clues as to the institutions of the society which produces those statements. Accounting has been an organizing and communicating tool in old societies as well as new, and in communistic societies as well as capitalistic.

Reviews the book "Accounting: An Introduction," by Kenneth W. Perry.

Reviews the book "Auditing," by Jack C. Robertson and Frederick G. Davis.