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NOTICIAS SOBRE ARCHIVOS News on historical archives Amparo Ruiz Llopis: El archivo de la "Antigua Real Fábrica de la seda de Vinalesa" The archive of the "Antigua Real Fábrica de la seda de Vinalesa")

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The period of 1310-1330 coincides with the magnificent era of the Particular Kingdom of Mallorca, including the kingdom of Jaime II, the entire kingdom of Sanxo I, and part of Jaime III’s coming of age (which was a period with limited accounting studies). In this study we are analyzing the most important ledgers of the Institution of the Royal Offices of the Kingdom of Mallorca. The “Llibres del Compte de Reebudes i Dades” are accounting the revenues and expenses derived from the wealth of the King of Mallorca in order to obtain a balance that finally would be given to him.     The documentation that is the object of our study is kept in the Historic Archives of the Kingdom of Mallorca, and we have concentrated it in three documentary groups. The main group is composed by the “Llibres del Compte, the Llibres de Reebudes and the Llibres de Dades” included in the Section of the Royal Patrimoni. A second documentary group is composed of the registers of the Royal Letters (lletres reials), “Llibres de Deute, Llibres de Fadigues, Llibres d’Administració de la Lleuda, Llibres del Lou dels Pisans, Llibres de Capbreus de Censals, Llibres d’Ancoratge, Llibres de l’Administració de la Dressana, Llibres del Monedatge” and others. The third group is composed by the series of Codices, utilized to consult the royal priviliges related with our research. Because the scope is to determine a balance to be submitted to the King, the “Llibres del Compte, de Dades i de Rebudes” are overwelming the simple registry books, showing the characteristics of an advanced single entry and even signs of double entry.The utilized accounting method looks similar to the one used by the Italian traders and bankers of that era, as the Florentine society of the Peruzzi family; they were using approximately the first half of the book to notate the debts and the second half of the book for the income. On top of the importance in the field of the History of the Accounting in Spain, they are an excellent source of the economic data of the era.

The events analyzed in this paper took place in the first part of the 18th century, in the scenario resulting from the signature of the Treaty of Utrecht that put and end to the War of the Spanish Succession. Among other things, in virtue of the series of treaties signed in Utrecht, Spain ceded Gibraltar and Minorca to Great Britain as well as allowed the wished Asiento, the monopoly of slave trading with the Spanish colonies in America that would be managed by the South Sea Company. On the basis of certain documents available in the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies) of Seville that relate to the sale of a party of slaves of the factory that the South Sea Company had in Buenos Aires, this paper describes the accounting treatment for slaves, as well as the strict economic control exerted on the persons in charge of their sale on behalf of the Company. The evidence presented provides valuable information, not only for Accounting History, but also for Economic History in general and, for the history of slave trading in particular.

From the 16th century onwards the ecclesiastics and incumbents of tithes, noble people included, had to pay two direct taxes, the subsidio and the excusado which levied on their annual income. These taxes were bestowed by the Pope on the King of Spain. This paper aims to explain the functioning of these taxes on a national level and their distributing among all Spanish dioceses. Special attention is devoted to their concrete management in the Sevillian archbishopric around the middle of the 17th century from an economic and accounting perspective

Ports play an important role as a driving force behind trade and economic growth. Due to its economic importance, activity in ports is runned by multiple organizations and agents. One essential entity in keeping the port well-managed was the Junta de obras (nowadays know as Autoridad Portuaria). This port management body was created in Spain at the end of the 19th century, having as main duties to boost the construction of the ports and to achieve handsome returns on the port installations, among others. In order to carry out its tasks, the Junta de obras was financed by public or private subsidies, in addition to the dues charged on cargo and shipping. These financial resources could not be spent unless a previous budget was passed. Moreover, the entity was strictly regulated from an economic, judicial and administrative perspective. Thus, regulations established how it should be organized. This paper examines the organizational rules applied to the Junta de obras in 1901 and 1903, following an accounting, economic and financial approach. An empirical study is also conducted on a Spanish port (Puerto de La Luz y Las Palmas), using as primary source the accounting records belonging to the period 1907-1908. Particularly, the entries of the first journal kept by the Junta de Obras are analized, as they disclose fair information on the economic reality of the port. The analysis shows a wide diversity of economic events carried out by the above entity during the studied period, as well as the financial resources obtained and the investments undertaken. This empirical study will allow us to compare the economic reality of the port with the duties imposed by the regulations analized.  

The direct tax collection by the Bank of Spain on a commission basis on behalf of the Royal Treasury was an atypical activity with regard to its banking business, but it achieved an extraordinary importance. To this object we dedicate the present paper. By formalizing the contract in 1867, the Bank considered that it was subscribing a simple commitment as a commission agent and implemented a single entry bookkeeping. This was a wrong evaluation of the risks ad complexity of tax collection, understood as a marginal activity. Because the Bank had to create a complex infrastructure, contract personnel, elaborate an ad hoc regulation, etc., as well as to establish a new inspectors category. The revolutionary political situation in 1868, with the setting-up of a new regime, the civil war in 1872 and the disorders of all type, caused that the tax collection activity was unfolded in some circumstances still more difficult. The economy was suffering the consequences of the financial and monetary crisis of 1866. They were reproduced in 1872, leading the country to a state of technical bankruptcy. The number of banking entities was reduced to the half, little more than thirty could survive. The end of the civil war in 1875 opened a period of greater political and economic quietness. The Bank of Spain, thanks to its prudence and experience could overcome the crisis. It was converted to a central Bank in 1874, so that it returned to the position of financial supremacy, that was overshadowed by the reform of 1856. From that date, the Institution had to face a huge task of administration, management and coordination at the central offices, of creation of branches and of organization of the tax collection. With the renewal of the contract in 1876 the service was reorganized. The Bank tried to integrate tax collection into the banking gears. Thus, a complex double entry bookkeeping was introduced, although due to some difficulties arisen it took some years up to its effective materialization. The risks were then measured and valued as the other ones of the Entity. The dimension of the tax collection service was impressive. However, the relations with the Royal Treasury were rather, since the Bank had to claim continually because of default balances. In 1888 the second agreement expired and Public Treasury did not renew it in spite of the positive disposition of the Bank. This fact supposed the end of the active tax collection. However, after 20 years of service, the accounts liquidation with the Public Treasury took as long as to the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks all of that the Bank acquired an important knowledge in management and control of business of great volume and operative difficulty. It probably applied this knowledge to the development of the branches.  

The Royal Decree of June 2, 1782 by which the Bank was founded as well as the Regulations of 1783 and 1789 ruled in detail its activities and internal control. This paper aims to analyze all aspects of this control that directly or indirectly have to do with the accounting implementation of the entity. In this sense we shall examine the dispositions of the foundation Decree, the Internal Regulation of 1783 and the General Regulation of 1789. We shall also study the decisions of the General Meetings of Shareholders and of the Board of Directors which gave origin to the rules contained in these regulations. The paper will specially focus on the dispositions that ruled the internal control functions of the General Meetings of Shareholders, the Board of Directors and the General Bookkeeping Department.

El objetivo de la tesis es profundizar sobre los procesos de legitimación de las empresas en su entorno social, económico y político utilizando para ello la carta del presidente. De esta forma, se estudia la carta atendiendo al proceso de comunicación. Los elementos identificados del proceso de comunicación son: canal (carta del presidente), emisor (empresas: Cepsa y Repsol-YPF), código (mediante el análisis de legibilidad), contenido (a través del análisis de contenido), receptor (usuarios del informe anual) y contexto (entorno social e institucional).

Many recent studies have argued that China integrates its traditional rules, cultural interests and its lifestyle into its accounting system. “Culture” is the main point for their accounting system. Hofstede, Gray,Mueller, and some other empiricist accounting researchers who emphasize the influence of cultural effects onnational accounting improvements claim that Chinese Accounting has been dominated by Chinese “Culture”.This paper presents three Chinese cultural variables (e.g. Confucianism, Feng Shui, Buddhism, Yin-Yang, etc.) that have shaped Chinese accounting behaviors and techniques. In China, the Chinese accountingsystem was traditionally based on Confucian practices and ancient wisdom; these elements still influence thecurrent system. In this paper, the influences are discussed from a historical perspective with regard to culturalvariables in China. The influences studied focused on bookkeeping methods, accounting practices, accountinginformation, etc.The evidence from the literature indicates that regardless of changes in government regimes, economicmanagement styles in China the influence of culture on accounting, its basic characteristics have survived. Forinstance Yin-Yang polarity has still balanced Chinese accounting; Chinese economic logic metamorphosed tomarket-oriented model practices, but Chinese mysticism has maintained its logic on the People’s Republic ofChina.