The impact of naval experience on accounting in colonial Australia from 1788 to 1792

Abstract

This study examines the cultural, financial, organisational and social factors that influenced the accounting systems adopted for planning and controlling the operation of the penal society established at Sydney Cove in 1788. We show that the most important influence was the naval experience of both the authors of reports from New South Wales and the recipients of those reports in London. They chose to use extant naval accounting systems. The three main forms of naval accounts were: 1) charge and discharge accounts showing bills of exchange drawn and concomitant purchases of goods and services in pounds sterling; 2) summary statements of the number of personnel on rations in equivalent units; and 3) inventories of food and other provisions in physical units.