ABSTRACT
Bookkeeping is not a subjeet which is famous for conjuring up streng emotions, but there are a few notable exceptious. It has been described by a character in Goethe's works as 'among the finest inventions ofthe human mind' (quoted in Macve, P·257), and by the English scientist Sir George Cayley as 'one of the two perfect sciences' (quoted in Hatfield, p.1 I). Hatfield's frustration with the derogatory attitude of academic colleagues towards accountancy, as epitomised by the phrase 'that is a mere bookkeeping entry', stimulated him to write a spirited and amusing riposte entitled 'An Historieal Oefence of Bookkeeping'. A more common characterisation is provided by Orew who observed that 'bookkeeping is at the best of'times a subject which few people find attractive' (quoted in Macve, P.257). This lack ofrespect extends to the bookkeeper. According to the Spectator's fictitious eighteenth-century gentlemen Sir Roger Oe Coverley, 'What can there great and noble be expected from him whose atter.cion is for ever fixed upon ballancing his books, and watehing over his expences?' (quoted in Boys, P.25).
