The Role of Accounting History in the Study of Modern Business Enterprise.
Abstract This article discusses the role of accounting history in the study of modern business enterprise. It is well known, of course, that typical manufacturing firms of the mid-nineteenth century specialized mainly in one activity: that of transforming raw materials into finished products. These manufacturing firms necessarily relied for non-manufacturing services upon outside companies that specialized, as did they, primarily in one operation. For example, the manufacturer depended upon wholesale suppliers and commission merchants to provide raw materials and to sell finished goods to the final customer. One new method for controlling and coordinating company procedure was an innovation commonly called "the unitary form of organization." The unitary form of organization also involved the design of complex accounting systems to carry out assessment, operations, and planning throughout the firm. Du Pont Powder Co. exemplifies the early use of accounting data for management control in vertically integrated industrial firms.
- DOI
- 10.2308/tar-4512292
- Volume
- 50 (3)
- Pages
- 444-450
- Language
- en
- Export
- BibTeX
- Sources
- openalex crossref