Édition, diffusion et réception des premiers ouvrages sur le commerce et la comptabilité en Russie au XVIIIe siècle

Comptabilité(s). Revue d’histoire des comptabilités. 2010. No. 1.

Platonova N.

Since the sixteenth century, books written for to help the merchants in their practices and in particular to learn how to keep accounts spread across Europe. Such books only appeared in Russia at the second half of the eighteenth century. At that time, being aware of themerchants’ growing role within the State and society, the monarchy tried to organize a commercial education and encouraged the dissemination of books devoted to the special needs of trade and accounting in the country. So these first works, their content and their impact on the vocational training and the practice of merchants are studied in this paper. It aims to underline the link between these books and the similar literature published in other European countries between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Their publication propagated the modern accounting knowledge in Russia. However, this literature did not immediately captivate interest among the Russian merchant’s circles. They preferred the traditional way of education and are indifferent to the use of double-entry bookkeeping. This can be explained bythe innovative and complex nature itself of the discussed books’ content. It is also important to understand the historical context in which the merchant activity took place at this time and the social position of the merchants. Accordingly, the impact of the commercial and accounting literature on practice of merchants in the eighteenth century should not be overestimated but rather considered in regard to the accounting thought. In fact, it marks the beginning of the development of accounting thought in Russia.

Keywords: accounting system, accounting history, history of trade