Contractual relationships and accounting change: the case of Aguera Wholesalers, 1770-1835

Abstract

This paper analyses accounting change within a small, family-owned commercial company, from the foundation of the company by three partners in the second half of the eighteenth century to the concentration of ownership in a single family in 1835. The paper shows that accounting change was driven by both internal and external factors. Significant internalfactors were the separation between ownership and management, changing contractual relationships, and the Will of one of the founders. Significant environmental elements were government legislation and the general level of economic activity.