‘And one man in his time plays many parts’ – Samuel Pepys business administrator, accomptant and auditor

Abstract

The (his)story of Samuel Pepys is interlinked with that of administration, accounting, auditing and their concepts. In terms of nascent ideas of accounting and business administration of the time, Pepys and his contribution are under-researched. Many scholars have considered the life of Samuel Pepys, studying his famous diary and marvelling at the wonderful insight this gives us to the time in which he lived, few have viewed his naval career in terms of its business administration and accounting contribution. This article studies Pepys’s diary, his correspondence and secondary literature to provide an insight into his business world. It explores his role, as he perceived it. Pepys had modern attitudes to business, professionalism and the role of accounting, this forward-thinking attitude helps explain his extraordinary achievements. Pepys was not only a skilled naval administrator but also a natural ‘accomptant’ in the more modern and all-encompassing sense of the word accountant.