ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the management systems for tracking rights and obligations and thereby safeguarding the interests of the proprietor. It examines the contractual arrangements between the landowner and lessees, subcontractors, partners, tenants and suppliers and the role of accounting in upholding the proprietor's rights. The need to enforce rights and obligations meant there was a close linkage between the form of the accounts and the mode of organizational control. This is most clearly illustrated in relation to the Bowes's coal interests, where different methods of organization were employed at different times, and the accounts responded accordingly. The accounting arrangements became more complex after 1723 when the lease was replaced with subcontracting agreements. It is unclear why George Bowes chose to subcontract the mines at Gibside rather than to lease them again, although the damage caused to the workings by Montagu is the most likely explanation.