ACCOUNTING AT THE PORTUGUESE SCHOOL OF COMMERCE IN 1765: DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES WITH ACCOUNTING TODAY

Abstract

This paper presents the application of the double-entry bookkeeping method, taught to students at the Aula do Comércio (School of Commerce), established in Lisbon in 1759. The aim in this research is to identify the differ¬ences and similarities between accounting practiced today and double-entry bookkeeping taught at the School of Commerce in 1765. The main bibliographic base used is the manuscript dictated through the first lens (teacher) of the School, João Henrique de Souza. The historical documentary research method was applied. The main doc¬umentary source, the abovementioned manuscript, is primary. The theme is important as it addresses the begin¬nings of Portuguese-Brazilian accounting education. It should be highlighted that the bookkeeping method at that time – double-entry – contains both differences and similarities with the procedures adopted today to recognize similar operations. Analyzing the text and presenting different examples transcribed from the manuscript, the pa¬per addresses the bookkeeping of the registers used at that time (daybook, journal and ledger), the accounts used in trade and industrial activities and the method to verify the balance of the transactions that took place in that pe¬riod. Finally, it is observed that many of the forms and concepts to do bookkeeping are similar to current practices.