Sistema Regional de Información
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ABSTRACT The Spanish policy during the 19th century suffered frequent changes between liberal and conservative discourses in the government and even in the different promulgated Constitutions. Moreover, accounting changes also happened in Spain during the same period, for instance, the implementation of annual budgets in the Estate accounts. The literature has pointed out the use of budgets in public firms since 1850 onwards, although only as a limit of payments. This work deals with the use of budgets in a private organisation, the Osuna's ducal estate (ODE), one of the more important Spanish aristocratic organisations. In the studied period, the ODE was characterized by the elimination of aristocratic privileges during the first half of the 19th century, the increase of the patrimonial spread, the high level of indebtedness and the turnover in the people who managed the organisation, mixing people coming from the context with people formed inside the organisation. This point was a key in the process of implementation and use of budgets. The work is based on the description and analysis of primary sources kept in the Section Nobility of the National historic Archive and in the Public Documents Historical Archive of Madrid. The discussion allows showing how the annual budget of 1862 reflected the situation of the ODE. On the other hand, the work also analyses the internal debate on the use and implementation of the budgets. In the estate, there were opinions that rejected its use, people who treated to use it as a tool useful for the estate management and the creditors showed an attitude favourable to the use of budgets as a limit of authorised payments. The last one was the position that was imposed since 1869. Thus, the debate on the budgets in the ODE was parallel to the conflict between liberal and conservative political discourses that characterised the Spanish policy during the period. In the ODE, the creditors, belonging to the emerging bourgeoisie, imposed their opinions face to an organisation unable to adapt it to the environmental changes.

The general purpose of this paper is to offer a complete profile of the origins, the evolution and the multiform development of accounting history in Spain, as well as the possible directions of its future evolution. Making reference to the scientific activities and the most recent studies it has been tried to show the remarkable degree of development reached by this discipline, thanks among other things to the synergy obtained by the collaboration between the academic institutions and the professional organizations, a particular characteristic of the Spanish experience. Inserted in a general picture of synthesis, this paper offers an account of this experience, an experience that has been able to locate the Spanish accounting history and its representatives in the first place of the European environment. In order to obtain its objective, the paper has made a wide use of documentary sources, with constant reference to writings and Spanish texts on the matter. It has also been resorted long to the electronic sources, of fundamental importance not only by the innovating value of this technology considered in itself, but also by the possibilities that offer for a constant and precise putting to the day of the scientific data and the set of initiatives in relation to the Spanish accounting history. Throughout the paper the diverse original documents, normative and treatises, essential to reconstruct the different stages from accounting history, have been taken in consideration as well as the studies conducted on such. In this way it has been tried to present, step by step, a general picture of the Spanish accounting historiography, that will serve to locate and to interpret better the value of the sources and the indicated evidences. To the object to contribute to this objective, at the end of the text a wide bibliography has also been arranged, that reveals the remarkable amount - and quality of texts available on the matter.

Comentario sobre el libro de Joaquim Cunha Guimarães: "História da contabilidade em Portugal. Reflexões e homenagems, " Braga: Áreas Editora, S.A., 2005, 568 págs.

TESIS DOCTORALES Doctoral dissertations María Soledad Campos Lucena: El control de las arcas municipales a través de la rendición de cuentas. La transformación del proceso del Antiguo al Nuevo régimen y la consolidación del modelo liberal: 1745-1914 The control of municipal coffers by means of account rendering. The change from Ancien Régime to the New Regime and the consolidation of liberalism: 1745-1914 Candelaria Castro Pérez: La institución parroquial a través de los registros contables del Señorío episcopal de la Villa de Agüimes. (1500-1860) The parochial institution seen through the account books of the Episcopal domain of the city of Aguimes (1500-1860) José Julián Hernández Borreguero: El Cabildo Catedral de Sevilla: organización y sistema contable. (1625-1650) Administrative and accounting organization of the Seville Cathedral. (1625-1650) Juan Lanero Fernández: El esplendor de la teneduría de libros: la partida doble en los tratados contables ingleses de la dinastia Tudor (1543-1588) Bookkeeping splendor: double-entry in the English accounting treatises at the time of the Tudor dynasty (1543-1588) María Llompart Bibiloni: Un análisis histórico-contable de la Procuración del Real Patrimonio en el Reino de Mallorca, período 1310-1330 An accounting historical análisis of the Royal Exchequer of the Kingdom of Mallorca (1310-1330)

In Germany, a discussion has been in progress for a number of years on the theoretical substantiation and the necessity of an independent cost accounting system. The spectrum of views involved ranges from a complete integration of cost accounting (internal income statement) into the profit and loss statement (external income statement) to as complete a separation as possible of the two income accounting systems. This contribution will represent, from a German standpoint, how the discussion has developed, and what its present state is. The conclusion of this contribution is a recommendation of a theoretically substantiated separation of the two types of income statements. The contribution pursues several different purposes: (a) an identification of the historical roots of the theoretical basis of cost accounting, (b) an account of the problem field of the firm and its structures, (c) a definition of the position of separations and separation theorems, (d) an analysis of perspectives of investigation of a theoretical substantiation, (e) a methodical orientation of cost accounting by the planning and steering system, (f) an account and appreciation of recent contributions on the theoretical substantiation, (g) a theoretical substantiation of an independent cost accounting system.

EL ARCHIVO DE LA FÁBRICA DE TABACOS DE SEVILLAFernando Gutiérrez HidalgoUniversidad Pablo de Olavide de SevillaTabacalera S.A (actual Altadis) creó el Archivo Histórico de la Fábrica de Tabacos deSevilla a mediados de los años ochenta. Se encuentra ubicado en la cuarta planta del edificiode la Fábrica actual en el número siete de la calle Juan Sebastián Elcano de Sevilla. Paracomprender la importancia de este Archivo habría que conocer qué es lo que ha supuesto eltabaco en España.

CRÓNICAS Reports   Los Encuentros de Trabajo de Historia de la Contabilidad y el Desarrollo de la Investigación Histórico-Contable en España AECA's Workshops on Accounting History and the development of accounting history research in Spain 

The findings of the studies on accounting of the religious organizations in Spain prove the ability that these organizations have had throughout the history in the management and internal control system and the most novel accounting techniques. Such findings stand in contradiction to the opinion that some specialists have about the present economic and financial management in the religious organizations. These authors agree that their accounting systems are primitive and inadequate, the internal control is poor and the institutions do not have expertise in financial management. In addition, they affirm that these facts are conditioned by the spiritual or sacred dimension of these organizations. Through an approach close to the research of the history of these religious organizations in Spain, this paper intends to study an entity that was considered the richest see of Christendom after Rome in the 16th century. We refer to the Cathedral of Toledo. This Cathedral had an important level of resources that were originated from the exploitation of an important inheritance (royal donations and private donations) and from the collection of the tithes. Its highest level of financial resources could possibly have been a significant element in the development of sophisticated management and accounting practices in this church. In addition, the role of the clergy (prebendaries) in this process was a key factor. Acting at the cathedral of Toledo, there were men who were capable to manage any economic question. Some clergies were members of the rich families of merchants in the city. Therefore, we will emphasize the importance of these men in the process of development of management and accounting in such organization. More specifically, one of these prebendaries was the author of the first accounting demonstration for double entry in the cathedral of Toledo and the first one that is known, at the present time, in a religious organization on the world. Such demonstration is composed of one journal and three ledgers (1533-1539). The person responsible for it was a collector of incomes in the cathedral, Gutierre Hurtado. Thus, this paper will show some features of all what we know about his life and his job (we have specially considered the period he performed his position). In addition to his role in the organization, we analyze some essential and special features that characterize the accounting method that was used by this administrator. To meet this objective, we have examined the historical documents, which are kept in the archive of the cathedral of Toledo. As mentioned above these documents are a journal (1535-1536) and three ledgers (1533- 1535, 1535-1536 and 1537-1539), as well as plenty of other papers which supply complementary information. This article concludes with some reflections and a summary of the findings of this research. These findings may be taken as a sign of the high level of sophistication that church accounting could have reached in Spain by this time. In addition, they also show how the church did not offer any resistance to innovative accounting and management techniques on account of its sacred condition.

The main purpose of this study is providing empirical evidence on the evolution of the cost accounting systems and on the role of the accounting information as an essential tool for the management and development of companies. To this end we have investigated the case of Trenor y Cía., one of the most relevant companies in terms of its contribution to the agricultural and industrial development of the Valencian economy in the 19th century The company initially settled down in a silk factory and was dedicated to import and export agrarian products, mainly raisins exportation, and to the bank business. Nevertheless, in the last decades of that century, it started the production of sacks, as well as chemical fertilizers, activities that provided the greatest benefits to the company. The cost information of this company was prepared in factory books, it used the double entry system and employed accounts related to the formation of the production cost, that was calculated periodically. The main characteristics of the cost accounting of Trenor y Cía. in the period under study, are the following ones: the determination of costs and results by activity segments; the distinction between general and specific assets and the imputation to the segments of the corresponding expenses and incomes; the establishment of transfer prices; the systematic distribution of the indirect costs, although it is necessary to emphasize that in this company the general expenses did not represent significant amounts. Taking into account the documentation under study, we have adopted a neoclassic economic approach, so that we think that the development in Trenor y Cía. of the cost accounting system, can be mainly explained by economic reasons. Thus, when the company started to grow and to be diversified, it was necessary to develop a system of costs and results allocation by activities that could allow owners to evaluate their efficiency as well as the people in charge in the diverse locations. In addition, the very detailed content of the cost books made them highly appropriated to identify wastes and leakages. We have not found any evidence on the use of the accounting figures to exert a disciplinary power on the company personnel and to stimulate productive improvement, which can be due to the content of the archive studied. We have not obtained evidence about the calculation if cost standards nor budget costs.

Comentario sobre el libro de Gérad Minaud: La comptabilité à Rome. Essai d'histoire économique sur la pensée comptable commerciale et privée dans le monde antique romain, " Lausanne: Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, 2005, 383 págs.