Accounting records of the East India Company

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 8, No. 1 Spring 1981
Vahé
Baladouni UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS
THE ACCOUNTING RECORDS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
Abstract: The rather extensive and complex collection of accounting and related materials of the East India Company may be viewed in four distinct periods. Para-doxically, the first period (1600-1663) is marked by an absence of account books. The second period (1664-1697), however, provides us with a near-complete set of books. The maintenance of three separate sets of accounting records distinguish-es the third period (1698-1712) when three East India Companies (London, Eng-lish, United) were operating simultaneously. From around 1712 until final liquid-ation of the Company in 1858—fourth and last archival period—record keeping assumed certain features of modern accounting.
Some 8,600 volumes of accounting records which span a period of nearly three centuries (1664-1955) are in the charge of the India Office Library and Records in London. They constitute the archives of the East India Company (1664-1858) and its successor, the India Office (1858-1955). These records are designated L/AG, Accoun-tant General.
This rather extensive collection covers a wide variety of account-ing and related subjects, ranging from ledgers and journals to ready reckoners, registers of stock transfers, bullion records, actuarial materials, income tax papers, private trade journals, and accounts compiled for Parliament and the Treasury. Altogether there are fifty-two major, self-contained subject areas each of which is di-vided into several subsections. From an archival standpoint, this collection of materials is very complex; efforts, however, are being made to improve its present arrangement.*
The accounting records of the East India Company may be viewed in four distinct periods. Even though there are no surviving
This report is a by-product of a research project made possible by a grant from the American Philosophical Society.
* Mr. S. J. McNally, who was for many years employed in the Accountant Gen-eral's Department of the India Office, has prepared a guide to this collection. The guide is now being edited and may in part be revised by Mrs. Sally Hofmann, formerly assistant keeper at the India Office Records.