Massachusetts Corporate Accounting Practices, 1870-1895

Between 1875 and 1895, the prevalence of double-entry bookkeeping among Massachusetts corporations surged from 60% to over 96%. This dataset supports a quantitative analysis of accounting innovation, tracking the adoption of depreciation and its correlation with firm survival. It includes balance statement data for corporations and supplementary citation counts from the Accountants' Index.

Use Cases

• [Analyzing the diffusion of double-entry bookkeeping] based on [balance statement errors and omissions]
• [Studying the relationship between accounting practices and firm longevity] based on [survival data for corporations]
• [Tracking the professionalization of accounting] based on [citation counts from the Accountants' Index]
• [Replicating historical economic analysis] based on [the provided Stata do files and Excel data sheets]

Strengths

• [Provides specific, quantified historical trends] citing [the 60% to 96% increase in balanced returns between 1875 and 1895]
• [Includes replication materials] citing [the Stata do file and Excel sheets for all tables and figures except Figure 4]
• [Has a clear temporal focus] citing [data covering the period 1870-1895 for Massachusetts corporations]

Limitations

• [Incomplete metadata] as [column names, row counts, and dataset size are not specified on any platform]
• [Potential source conflict] as [one Dataverse entry lists 'Open Access (green)' license while another lists 'None']
• [Limited geographic scope] to [corporations in the state of Massachusetts]

Provenance

Source

Caitlin Rosenthal, ICPSR Harvested Dataverse

Collection Method

Analysis of errors and omissions in corporate balance statements and citation counts from the Accountants' Index.

Time Range

1870-1895

Freshness

2026-02-23 11:01:53

Geography

Massachusetts, United States