Accountants Played During The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution and the role that accountants played.

The following essay shall discuss why the industrial revolution did not take place in comparison to Britain and the other leading countries. The role that accountants played In Europe will also be discussed. In order for these topics to be discussed the following will be looked at: The Colonization of Africa, how the start of the slave trade impacted the underdevelopment of Africa, the role of accountants in Europe during the industrial revolution.
The industrial revolution took place between the 18th and 19th century. The colonisation of Africa started between the 1870’s and 1900. This is one of the reasons that Africa was not part of the industrial revolution. During the time
This led to the start of the slave trade industry. At first they built a five- pointed stone castle on the shores, but they were pre dominantly focused on supplying their ships with fresh produce as they made their way to the spice producing countries Indonesia etc. As the water routes got more common and busy, Jan van Riebeeck started to establish this refreshment port and there was a larger need for resources. They started to think about how they could increase production at a cheap price. This was the start to slave labor, they had control over the cape and could force the traditional communities to work for them. This trend slowly increased and was working well for them until the demand for fresh produce got too large they then gave parts of land to their members to start farms. When the British came and took over Africa they took the best resources and sent them back to Britain. They sent fresh produce, gold, Diamonds and cheap Labor. The slave trade led to slow industrialisation in Africa because when slaves were chosen to be sent over to Britain they chose the best of the traditional population. These people would be the people that are at the prime of their lives, the people that are between the ages of 18 and 29. These slaves would be the most efficient and productive and this is why they were sent overseas. An economic and political problem with removing these people from their
Cost accounting refers to a “type of accounting process that aims to capture a company's costs of production by assessing the input costs of each step of production as well as fixed costs such as depreciation of capital equipment. Cost accounting will first measure and record these costs individually, then compare input results to output or actual results to aid company management in measuring financial performance.”(N/A. (2014). Cost accounting. Available: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cost-accounting.asp. Last accessed 14th August 2014.) This type of accounting helps a company aid in the decision making of a company. Capital accounting has to do with the control and planning of the company’s assets. Accountants were also brought into big companies to help them come up with new ideas and ways to increase a company’s productivity and efficiency. Accountants were also needed to control and plan assets for future use. All of these technological advancements required a need for more resources and these needed to be managed to ensure that maximum profit. (Fleischman, R.K. (1991). What is past is prologue. Available: http://www.accountingin.com/accounting-historians-journal/volume-25-number-2/what-is-past-is-prologue-cost-accounting-in-the-british-industrial-revolution-1760-1850/. Last accessed 14th August