Leonard Paul Spacek 1907–[2000]

Before the appearance of Charles Ezra Sprague’s Philosophy of Accounts, the study of accounting consisted in mastering sets of situation-specific rules. Sprague’s great achievement was to provide such a framework and thus to raise the level of accounting instruction to that of a science. Sprague’s concern for a theory of accounts stemmed from a deep-seated interest in education that his parents had implanted in him as a child. After receiving his Master’s degree, Sprague joined the Union army. Following discharge from the army, he joined the faculty of Yonkers Military Academy and later the faculties of Peekskill and Poughkeepsie Academies. Sprague, who advertised in The Book-keeper as a public accountant, also became active in the accounting profession. As a faculty member, Sprague lectured on the theory of accounts. Sprague’s impact on the development of accounting thought in the United States was profound.