Abstract

A survey of English accounting, its origin, its development, and its first books (1553-1680) provides another insight into the shift from orality to textuality in English society. The shift to sophisticated textual expression of accounting occurred as a result of the confluence of the rising English Renaissance trade economy, increasing literacy, and improving typography—all of which made the need for extensive financial records necessary and possible. The shift to a highly sophisticated textual/spatial presentation was nurtured by Ramism, Renaissance Italian art, and the rise of capitalism. Ultimately, this spatial presentation destroyed the oral-aural aspect of accounting. Spatial presentation was essential to the development of accounting techniques for an expanding economy, but spatial, rather than verbal, display led to abstraction in presentation that today makes accounting difficult for the nonaccounting reader to understand and for the expert accountant to verbalize.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1993-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651993007003003
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Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly
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  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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