The significance of a ‘correct and uniform system of accounts’ to the administration of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834

Abstract

Accounting under the new Poor Law represents a significant landmark in the history of government accounting that has hitherto attracted little attention or comment. Charge and discharge accounting is rooted in feudal relationships and persisted well into the nineteenth century in the parishes and municipal corporations of England and Wales, especially in rural areas. In contrast, double-entry bookkeeping (DEB) in central government accounting, became a signature of the modern bureaucratic organisation. This paper argues that these radical differences were nowhere more apparent than in the new administrative apparatus created by the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Evidence is drawn from national and local archives to document the design of an elaborate accounting system through which the central agency of the Poor Law Commission operated. It was not only the design of the accounting system that was significant but also its implementation. The paper draws on archival material to demonstrate the role of change agents and mimetic processes in institutionalising the new accounting practice. It reveals that in the unions studied there was an impressive uniformity and conformity of local practice in deference to the statutory authority of the Poor Law Commission.