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Accounting And Financial Reporting By A Late 18th Century American Charity, Roger B. Daniels, Mike Braswell, Jesse D. Beeler

Accounting Historians Journal

Empirical research to date has neglected accounting and external financial reporting among 18th century American charitable institutions. Contemporary understanding of 18th century American practices is supported by evidence relating to commercial transactions primarily among colonial merchants. Our study examines the accounting and financial reporting of the Charleston Orphan House, the first municipal orphanage in America, from its inception in 1790 through its first five years of operations. The institution was established by city ordinance in 1790 which required the institution to keep a book of fair and regular accounts of all receipts and expenditures which will be subject at all …