Accounting for the estates of deceased travellers: an example of early Spanish double entry bookkeeping

Abstract

In 1510 the second regulation for the Trading House of the Indies of Seville(Casa de la ContrataciÛn de Indias de Sevilla) established accounting regulations for the administration and control of the belongings of citizens who died in the Indies(Indias) or during the round trip journey. A book of charge and discharge(Libro de cargo y data), kept in the same way as the book used to account for the transactions in the Royal Treasury(Real Hacienda), was used in which the origins and destinations of goods were required to be registered. Subsequently, accounting for the goods belonging to the deceased developed in a similar way to accounting for the Royal Treasury. As early as 1550 the double-entry accounting system was used in the form of the “Cash and Journal Book”(Libro de Caxa y Manual). The implementation of this system was motivated by the need to maintain strict control over the debit balances of the accounts assigned to the owners of the goods accounted for. This paper presents an analysis of the development of this accounting system and the accounting practices associated with the implementation of the double-entry bookkeeping system.