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Abstract

The purpose of this note is to reveal evidence pointing to the availability of knowledge of double entry bookkeeping at the time of the arrival of the First Fleet at New South Wales in 1788. James Smith, a mysterious passenger aboard one of the convict transports, the Lady Penrhyn, had the foresight to include an encyclopÊdia in his baggage. The encyclopÊdia is identified as being a revised edition of Chambers edited by Abraham Rees and published in parts from 1779–1786. Abraham Rees cited Alexander Malcolm's treatise on bookkeeping as the source of the explanation for keeping accounts using double entry.

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Transportation of double entry bookkeeping to early New South Wales

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