A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF ACCOUNTING METHODS AND USAGE IN MID - NINETEENTH-CENTURY ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI (ANTE-BELLUM, SLAVERY

The study of accounting and its historical development has been the work of the accounting historian. Much of the work of these historians has centered on the nineteenth century with the development of factory accounting and accrual methods by British and New England railroads and textile mills. The accounting historian has, however, ignored one segment of nineteenth century business, the Southern cotton plantation which supplied these British and Northern textile mills. In addition, there has been limited work on concepts such as theory diffusion, historical usage levels and historical statistical analysis.;The focus of this study was to determine, through statistical analysis, if accounting practices from the North diffused into usage among Southern businesses during a period of 1830 to 1880 or if the southern businesses developed accounting practices to meet their own needs.;The study used accounting attributes derived from bookkeeping textbooks written by Northern authors during a period 1800 to 1860. These attributes, which included usage of double entry accounting, represented surrogates of Northern accounting practices during this period. In addition, a review of Thomas Affleck's The Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book (1851) was completed to determine what accounting procedures were prescribed for Southern cotton plantations. Affleck's attributes ranged from slave accounting to accounting for cotton production.;The two sets of attributes were tested for usage through a review of over 130 manuscripts of stores and plantations located in Alabama and Mississippi during the mid-nineteenth century. The tests were conducted using a proportions test which is similar to political polling.;The results of the tests gave solid evidence that the Northern accounting attributes diffused into usage among stores in Alabama and Mississippi, but did not find widespread usage among plantations. Affleck's procedures, however, did find widespread usage among plantations. The results indicated that there may be a utilitarian nature to accounting development with new practices developed to meet the needs of the business. Next, the change in accounting methods on the plantations after the Civil War gave evidence that accounting practices also develop due to social and environmental factors. Finally, the study indicated that there was a place for statistical analysis in historical accounting research.