Plantation accounting and management practices in the US and the British West Indies at the end of their slavery eras1

Abstract

This article examines comparatively the slavery systems of the US and the British West Indies before and after their respective emancipations. The primary focus is on how differential factors in the two plantation economies, such as racial control, labour structures, and governmental mandates, impacted the development of accounting and those performing accounting functions. Other factors, such as plantation size and ownership structure, not only influenced accounting practices but management issues as well. These factors resulted in the substantially greater development of accounting in the British Caribbean, both in terms of the number of practitioners and the volume and uniformity of accounting records.