Managerial Accounting Relevance in a 19th Century Communistic Religious Society

• In Event: Accounting and Society

Abstract

Accounting, both financial and managerial, is a product of its environment, and as pointed out in Jacob Soll’s 2014 book, The Reckoning, the environment of a society can also be a product of the quality of the accounting in that society. All of this is evidenced by the accounting system of the Harmony Society, led by George Rapp, an early nineteenth century religious commune on the frontier of first Pennsylvania and later Indiana. The internal reporting system of the Harmonists was quite sophisticated for the early 1800s, and the Harmonists were extremely successful—even prosperous—in their business and agricultural operations. When the group moved back to Pennsylvania after 1824, the accounting system regressed due to a change in focus as to what was important in life. The result was a less prosperous society, and eventually bankruptcy.

Authors

• Tonya K Flesher, The University of Mississippi

• Dale L Flesher, The University of Mississippi