In recent years, many studies have confirmed the role played by techniques of
calculation in facilitating business management. Although there is no agreement
on precisely when and for what purposes they arose, it seems clear that they
were important as control procedures. This paper studies the case of the Royal
Tobacco Factory of Seville, Spain, in the period 1761 to 1790, and identifies
and discusses the disciplinary character of the accounting techniques adopted.
From the analysis of archival information, it is clear that various forms of
discipline played an important part in critical management control methods. It
is argued that the accounting system effectively transferred to the local
production installations the patterns of employee behaviour stipulated in the
Regulations issued by the top management located in distant Madrid.