EVOLUTION OF ACCOUNTING AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

1.3 EVOLUTION OF ACCOUNTING AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

In its oldest form, accounting aided the stewards to discharge their stewardship function. The wealthy men employed stewards to manage their property; the stewards in turn rendered an account periodically of their stewardship. This ‘Stewardship Accounting’ was the root of financial accounting system. The presently followed system of double-entry book-keeping has been developed only in the 15th Century. However, historians found records of debit and credit dating back to the 12th Century. Although double-entry system was followed, ‘stewardship accounting’ served the purpose of businessmen and wealthy persons at that time. In most of the countries, stewardship accounting was prevalent till the emergence of large-scale enterprises in the form of public limited companies. 

In the second phase, the idea of financial accounting emerged with the concept of joint stock company and divorce of ownership from the management. To safeguard the interest of the shareholders and investors, disclosure of financial statements (mainly, profit and loss account and balance sheet) and other accounting information was moulded by law. Financial statements give periodic performance report by way of profit and loss account and financial position at the end of the period by way of Balance Sheet. It got the legal status due to changing relationships between the owners, economic entity and the managers. With the democratisation of society, the relationships between the enterprise on the one hand, the investors, employees, managers and governments on the other, have also undergone a sea-change. Also the prospective investors and other business contact groups want to know a lot about the business before entering into transactions. Thus, financial accounting emerged as an information system to identify, measure and communicate useful information for informed judgements and decisions by a broad group of users. In the third phase, accounting information was generated to aid management decision- making in particular. It contributed a lot to improve the quality of management decisions. This new dimension of accounting is called Management Accounting and it is the development of 20th Century only. It is pervasive enough to cover all spheres of management decisions.

Lastly, Social Responsibility Accounting is in the formative process, which aims at accounting for the social cost incurred by business as well as the social benefit, created by it. It emerges from the growing social awareness about the undesirable by-products of economic activities. While earning profit, an enterprise incurs numerous social costs like pollution, using the resources of society like materials, land, labour etc.To compensate for this social cost, in today’s world, an enterprise is expected to generate some social benefits also like employment opportunities, recreation activities, more choice to customers at reasonable price, better quality products etc. Therefore, it is demanded that the accounting system should produce a report measuring the social cost incurred and social benefits generated. Social Science study man as a member of society; they concern about social processes and the results and consequences of social relationships. The usefulness of accounting to society as a whole is the fundamental criterion to treat it as a social science. Although individuals may benefit from the availability of accounting information, the accounting system generates information for social good. It serves social purposes, it contributes for social progress; also it is being adapted to keep pace with social progress. So, accounting is treated as a social science