Enhancing morality through charity accounting during the Swedish famine of 1867–1869

Abstract

The objective of this article is to describe instances of charity accounting relating to a natural disaster in Sweden and to analyse the relationship between charity accounting and dimensions of moral conception prevailing in Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on accounts of the Stockholm Relief Committee for Norrland, a temporary charity organisation established during the Swedish Famine of 1867–1869, the study shows that moral conceptions affected not only the distribution of relief but also what was accounted for. There are also indications that accounting was used to enhance the morality of the propertied class to act in the interest of those in need. In this way, the broader social implications of accounting history are considered, and previous conceptions of accounting as a one-sided technology exclusively favouring propertied interests and enhancing the morality of the poor are challenged.