Confession and bookkeeping : the religious, moral, and rhetorical roots of modern accounting / James Aho.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aho, James A., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Accounting--Moral and ethical aspects.

Accounting.

Bookkeeping--History.

Bookkeeping.

Capitalism--Moral and ethical aspects.

Capitalism.

Christian sociology--Catholic Church--History.

Christian sociology.

Economics--Religious aspects--Catholic Church--History.

Economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (152 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Double-entry bookkeeping (DEB), modern capitalism's first and foremost calculative technology, was "invented" during the Middle Ages when profit making was morally stigmatized. James Aho examines the problematic of moneymaking and offers an explanatory understanding of the paradoxical coupling of profit seeking and morality by situating DEB in the religious circumstances from which it emerged, specifically the newly instituted sacrament of penance, that is, confession.Confession impacted the consciences of medieval businessmen both through its sacramental form and through its moral teachings. The form of confession produced widespread habits of moral scrupulosity (leading to compulsive record keeping); the content of confession taught that commerce itself was morally suspect. Scrupulous businessmen were thus driven to justify their affairs to church, commune, and themselves. With the aid of DEB, moneymaking was "Christianized" and Christianity was made more amenable to the pursuit of wealth. Although DEB is typically viewed exclusively as a scientifically neutral account of the flow of money through a firm, it remains as it was originally devised, a rhetorical argument.

Contents:

The problem

Roman Catholic penance

The "scrupulous disease"

Business scruples

Medieval morality and business

The notary-bookkeeper

The rhetoric of double-entry bookkeeping

Confession and bookkeeping.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-120) and index.

ISBN:

9780791482797

0791482790

9781423748793

1423748794

OCLC:

76764534