Pierre Boucher and the 1803 edition of La science des négocians: accounting in the Republic

Abstract

In 1803, Pierre Boucher of Bordeaux, France, published the second edition of an accounting textbook, La science des négocians et teneurs de livres, with sections on agricultural, nautical, and merchant accounting, an extensive commercial dictionary, discussions of accounting terminology and corrections, and numerous journal entries. Boucher's books appeared at a time of enormous change in French accounting, tracking momentous economic growth. Using the framework of new institutional economics, we argue that Boucher's work contributed to technical improvements in business records that permitted the lowering of transaction costs, at a time when such improvements could bring high returns in the merchandising and agricultural sectors.